After more than a year of COVID-driven shut and lock downs, the pandemic is showing signs - hopefully - of losing steam and Indian Wells is ready for the old normal to at least gradually become new again.
"Just getting back to some form of normalcy," Indian Wells Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike Avila told Desert Magazine. "Our three big events might not return by year's end but if our restaurants, retail stores, conventions, concerts, museums and theaters can open up to full capacity it will be a good start."
That good start can't come soon enough. Lockdowns worldwide have kept visitors away from everywhere, including Indians Wells' popular festivals, events and even its amazing resorts, which has meant heavy losses for the city, including the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and other forms of revenue.
"Without question, our biggest issue we had to overcome this past year was the loss of revenue," Avila said. "The City of Indian Wells relies heavily on its T.O.T. revenue that its four five-Star resorts bring into the city each year."
The losses began when the state of California issued one shutdown and lockdown order after another beginning in March of last year, which was "a major blow" for greater Indian Wells, Avila said.
"The pandemic caused three major event cancellations in the city such as our BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament, which attendance has grown to almost half a million people from around the world attending our two week event, creating a loss of millions of dollars," Avila said. "Our Pickleball tournament, which brings in over 2,200 teams participating, was another huge loss along with our Indian Wells/La Quinta Triathalon event."
Loss of festivals and events during the pandemic has meant a painful loss of revenue for all cities, but the loss of one event in particular has been a full body-slam for Indian Wells. The BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells' wildly popular near-major tennis tournament, was postponed in December and then called off in March due to the still-ongoing pandemic, at a loss measured in the tens of millions for that event alone.
Despite the challenges, festival and other event organizers in Indian Wells are working hard to keep the show going on. Indian Wells Arts Festival, traditionally in April at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, currently is planning a virtual event show Oct. 9-11.
This year's Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships is optimistically expected for a Nov. 6-13 run at the state-of-the-art Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The Tennis Garden includes the world's second largest tennis stadium, more than 24,000 seats with 28 world class courts and its championship and tournament namesake pickleball court.
The Trainual IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells – La Quinta, the grand finale of the North American trainual circuit, is scheduled for Dec. 4 and this year will boast a new bike course through the area's lovely and flat county roads under the warm Coachella Valley sun. Participants in this year's Trainual IRONMAN have a shot at qualify to the 2022 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand.
Avila said there are no events coming back that he is most excited about, he just is looking forward to them coming back.
"Them all, at full capacity, whatever they may be," he said.
