The Sedona Marathon is on again for 2012, and this time it’s for real.
The Sedona Chamber of Commerce announced this week it will be in charge of producing the 7th annual Sedona Marathon in February.
The chamber’s Board of Directors approved a purchase agreement to buy the for-profit event from founder Karen Livesay after Livesay announced in the spring the race would not return in 2012.
“The opportunity arose for the chance to take it over, and we thought why not,” said Ralph Woellmer, vice president of the board.
Purchasing the existing marathon, with the status of a seventh-year event, allows the chamber to chase larger cooperate sponsorships, Chamber President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said, which the chamber plans to start immediately.
Wesselhoff said with the event six months away, only two minor changes will be implemented — the race is now a nonprofit event, and it will be moved back to the first weekend of February.
The chamber is a nonprofit organization, which means events it produces are as well.
Changing the race’s status to nonprofit opens up more avenues for funding, Wesselhoff said.
The chamber can apply for grants only available to nonprofit groups, including the grant it received from the city of Sedona on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
The city awarded the chamber $10,000 of its $20,000 request, according to Assistant City Manager Alison Zelms. The grant came from a $120,000 grant cycle Sedona City Council awarded Tuesday to various organizations in three categories — arts and culture, community building, and economic stimulation. The chamber grant fell under economic stimulation.
The chamber applied for the money to help it quickly put together the 2012 event, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 4, the first weekend of February. The race took place the first weekend of February in past years, but the 2011 event was held Feb. 12 instead, Valentine’s Day weekend.
Other chambers of commerce across the country also produce marathons to promote tourism and boost their economies, according to Wesselhoff. Sedona is already looking at other models used by chambers that put on races.
When the board and staff discussed whether the marathon aligned with the chamber’s mission, Wesselhoff said the anwer was clear, “Absolutely.”
Since the first marathon six and a half years ago, Woellmer said his Uptown hotel has supported the event and seen an increase in occupancy during a normally slow weekend.
“It has definitely made a difference in bringing people into our community for more than one night,” Woellmer said.
Chamber staff works daily to promote Sedona to the outside world and now it will use the same skills to promote the race.
“Given our experience with destination marketing, we have well-established channels to market,” Wesselhoff said.
Understanding her staff is skilled in marketing, but has not put on a marathon, Wesselhoff said major players from past marathons will be on the chamber’s marathon management team, including Livesay in an advisory role. Wesselhoff heads up the team with help from Mindy Mendelsohn, who handled public relations and marketing among other duties during past races.
Wesselhoff’s operations team includes other key players from the past who will work with chamber staff, which will absorb some activities previously performed by contracted workers, Wesselhoff said.
“There are lots of synergies that make sense,” Wesselhoff said.
After the Feb. 4 race, the chamber plans to evaluate the race process to look at what worked, what didn’t and how to “grow” the marathon.
“We just hope we get the support of the community behind it,” Wesselhoff said, because local support is the magic ingredient to making the race successful.
