FARMINGTON -- A national three-day wrestling tournament is coming to Legacy Events Center, destined to pin down some out-of-state visitor revenues for Northern Utah.
The ASICS Kids FS/GR National Championships, through USA Wrestling-Utah, will be at the Farmington facility, 151 S. 1100 West, from June 27 to June 29.
The Davis County Commission approved the agreement with USA Wrestling-Utah on Tuesday.
The agreement will have the wrestling organization pay the county $2,750 in rental fees for the three-day event, said Davis County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings.
The group has been given a small discount on the rental agreement based on the positive "economic impact" the event is projected to have on the area in overnight lodging stays, Rawlings said.
"This is the first year (this event) has come here," said Mike Moake, Legacy Events Center marketing and event coordinator. "It is going to be great. It's something different."
In accommodating the event, the county will roll a tarp over its dirt-floor horse arena and put down wrestling mats, he said. USA Wrestling has rented the indoor horse arena as well as a second building for the wrestlers' weigh-ins.
The last wrestling event Legacy Events Center hosted was the Utah Freestyle Championship on April 14-16.
Moake said that event drew 492 state competitors between the ages of 4 and 18, who, when combined with their family and friends, filled the 2,000-seat indoor horse arena.
About the same number of wrestlers will attend this month's event, Moake said, maybe a few less. But this event will draw competitors from across the country, resulting in those traveling with the group making arrangements for overnight stays, he said.
"We figure, with this one, that they will want to go to Cherry Hills and Lagoon -- (make it) more of a family vacation," Moake said.
County officials like the direction the events center is taking.
To make the best of the situation, Davis County Commissioner John Petroff Jr. said, the three-day wrestling event needs to be cross-marketed with other Northern Utah attractions.
How did the county pin down this event? Moake said The Legacy Events Center, as a result of hosting the state wrestling competition in April, became associated with an individual also involved with the national wrestling event the county is to host.
With this particular event being held on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Moake said, the arena will be closed the Saturday before the event so staff can prepare the building.
The past few years, Legacy Events Center has been trying to diversify the events it hosts to offer more than just horse events, Moake said.
That has helped make it possible to rent its buildings during the outbreak of the equine herpes virus, which led to the cancellation of some horse events.
Moake said county officials are hoping horse events will once again be well-attended, as they were before the EHV-1 outbreak.
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