Celebrations are planned around this year's Izod IndyCare Series Edmonton Indy “with the hope the city will rally behind the sporting event,” according to Manisha Krishnan of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. Race Week Edmonton Thursday announced its “intentions to build excitement ‘outside the race track fence,’ starting on June 14 right through the Indy weekend, ending July 22.” The volunteer group is partnering with Taste of Edmonton to “offer live musical entertainment as well as family friendly activities, car shows and plenty of wining and dining during the month-long festivities.” Race Week Edmonton VP Dean Heuman said, “We want to inspire many more businesses and organizations to take up the mantle and create their own events.” Heuman said that starting this week, Race Week Edmonton will “launch an aggressive public relations campaign to inform potential visitors what the city has to offer.” He added that the website, RaceWeekEdmonton.com, will “serve as a one-stop shop offering everything from transit and traffic reports to hotel booking and ticket purchasing as well as social media.” Heuman also “offered to help business who want to join in by promoting their parties and providing décor kits” (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 5/25). In Edmonton, Tanara McLean noted this year’s Edmonton Indy tag-line is “Full Speed Fun -- a phrase Heuman is hoping to capture in events like go-cart races for kids, exotic car shows and a specialized ‘Mustang madness’ show.” He said, “It’s a race that’s important to us in our summer season of attracting and creating opportunities for tourism, and it’s also a great driver of our economy in that period of time” (EDMONTON SUN, 5/25).
