The Race is On

What a week. For the world of professional cycling; for Ingram’s Magazine and Show-Me Publishing; and, most importantly, for the people of the State of Missouri, the week of the Tour of Missouri was certainly an exciting ride.

By all accounts the six day, 600 mile, Tour of Missouri bike race was an unprecedented success. The racing was spectacular; the weather was perfect; the crowds exceeded expectations; and the people of Missouri were the winners. The event was a showcase for the best our state has to offer—thriving, welcoming communities; a competitive spirit, and natural beauty.

We were privileged to experience the entire Tour of Missouri up close and personal. At each stop along the way we were there to welcome the crowds and greet the racers, in our Destination Missouri motor coach. Our mission was to support the Tour and to interact with community and business leaders and to do our part to encourage investment in the Show-Me State and its counties, towns, and cities.

It’s a safe bet that more than ninety percent of those who gathered along the race route to greet the riders at the finish lines have never seen a professional bike race before. Yet in Kansas City, where the race started, and in St. Louis, where it ended, NFL-sized crowds gathered to watch and cheer. Racers and Tour officials alike agree that the level of public enthusiasm and support couldn’t have been greater. 

The Tour of Missouri is a shining example of the kinds of exciting and forward-looking things that can be accomplished through private and public partnerships. The state of Missouri, the Department of Tourism and the Hawthorn Foundation demonstrated imagination and foresight in bringing the race to the state and acting as its primary sponsors in its inaugural year. Governor Matt Blunt and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder are to be congratulated for their leadership and support of the Tour of Missouri. And the race’s many corporate sponsors showed a willingness to invest in launching an initiative that shows great promise.

We’ve launched our own initiative to encourage investment in Missouri and it, too, shows great promise.

In the coming months we’ll publish seven regional publications and two statewide magazines, and in January, 2008, we’ll launch an arsenal of integrated websites—one for each county, district and most cities in the state under our flagship, Destination Missouri. Each of the “Destination” publications and websites are designed to drive attention to and investment in Missouri and its thriving regions.

Destination Missouri will explore the state in great depth, but we’ll be covering a distance far greater than 600 miles and there will be more than 250 communities, counties and districts along our route. Each of the state’s seven major districts will have its own devoted Web site under the DestinationMissouri.com site and each of its compatible publications and the websites will highlight the economic strengths, business climate, infrastructure, educational, demographic data, and quality of life attributes of counties and communities in the region. These sites will be an invaluable tool for site selectors and executives of expansion-oriented companies interested in locating in or expanding in Missouri.

The Tour of Missouri demonstrated that the state of Missouri is willing to invest in a big idea. We share that spirit of enterprise. That’s what Destination Missouri is all about. We hope your organization will get involved in the Destination Missouri project series and in the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

Joe Sweeney

Editor-In-Chief & Publisher

JSweeney@IngramsOnLine.com