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As the sixth edition of The Greenbrier Classic gets underway, Lewisburg businesses are getting ready for both newcomers and annual "regulars" who are coming back to their favorite shops and restaurants.
Crowds will gather en masse today for the Pro-Am, a star-studded event that will feature celebrities like former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and "Duck Dynasty" star Jase Robertson, as well as TOUR golfers including Tiger Woods, whose only other Greenbrier Classic appearance was in 2012.
But Lewisburg businesses have already been in high gear this week hosting golfers, their families and the thousands of volunteers and members of the media that come to town early for the event.
Melissa Barrow and her daughter, Katie, both of Texas, were out shopping in Lewisburg on Tuesday afternoon as the professional golfers put in time at the driving range and practice green at The Greenbrier. Melissa's husband is a producer for the CBS Sports broadcast, so they travel occasionally to PGA TOUR events. The Greenbrier Classic, they say, is one of their favorites because of the small-town atmosphere in the Lewisburg area.
"It has a family feel to it," Katie Barrow said. "I know a lot of people that are here with the TOUR. You notice a lot of them brought their families, their wives and children, so that makes it stand out from other tournaments because it's such a family-friendly environment."
"There's a lot of things for everybody to do during the week," Melissa Barrow added.
Sandy Carter, owner of The Bakery on Court Street, was hard at work with his wife and daughter Tuesday morning preparing lunch for crew members from CBS Sports, which is televising the third and final rounds of the golf tournament live on Saturday and Sunday. Carter said he's baked seven dozen bagels and prepared lunches for the CBS Sports crew each day of the tournament for the past four years.
Carter said the crew members enjoyed the bagels so much, he was asked to ship a dozen bagels to CBS' headquarters in New York. Producers from The Cooking Channel's "Chuck's Eat The Street" show learned of his delectable bagels and featured his shop on the show in September 2014, which thrust his business into the national spotlight.
"We had people from all over come in because of it," Carter said. "CBS has helped put us and Lewisburg on the map."
Carter said he and other Lewisburg shops regularly see professional golfers and their families come through during the week along with the regular crush of tourists. He also sees a steady steam of what he calls "golf widows" - the wives and children of men who are watching the tournament.
Carter prefers to call them "guests," because the hope is that the visitors will want to come back to Lewisburg.
"Lewisburg itself, year after year, is getting more exposure, more traffic," Carter said. "There's a lot of neat towns in America, but Lewisburg, in my opinion, is unique among all those little towns. I have people tell me they walk around town and they feel like they're for a short time a part of it. They're not treated as outsiders or tourists."
Kara Dense, executive director of the Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said hotels as far away as Beckley and Lexington, Va., have been booked solid for the tournament, and many rooms are booked as early as a year in advance. The tournament gives businesses the opportunity to leave a lasting first impression on visitors, but it also thrusts Lewisburg into the national spotlight as television crews from The Golf Channel and CBS Sports cover the tournament closely all week.
Though Dense didn't have exact numbers for how much of an economic impact The Greenbrier Classic makes for Greenbrier and surrounding counties, she said it's a big part of Greenbrier County's $247 million tourism industry.
"It's giving us exposure and public relations we couldn't afford to buy," Dense said. "When you get four days on The Golf Channel and CBS, and the course, when you watch it on TV, it looks amazing. And the announcers talk about how beautiful the people are and how beautiful (Greenbrier County) is."
Carter admits Lewisburg has come a long way from when The Greenbrier nearly went out of business in 2009, and Jim Justice purchased it and saved it from bankruptcy. Between the Greenbrier Classic, the New Orleans Saints' summer camp and the State Fair of West Virginia, Carter said Lewisburg is bustling on any given summer day.
"You gotta hand it to Jim Justice," Carter said. "Everything he's done to keep The Greenbrier going, to keep it local, to do everything it's doing. He's putting energy in it and advertising into it, and he's out there day after day after day tooting West Virginia's horn, so to speak."
Contact writer Marcus Constantino at 304-348-1796 or marcus.c@dailymailwv.com. Follow him at www.twitter.com/amtino.