By Austin Arceo
TERRE HAUTE — A sea of blue showered Terre Haute earlier this year when people decked out in Indianapolis Colts apparel as the football squad stormed through the playoffs to a Super Bowl title.
The team should expect a more multicolored welcome when they arrive today to start training camp.
While Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology prepared for the team that will practice football and live on campus for the next three weeks, other local groups celebrated the camp in their own way. In one such instance, painted colt statues dotting the Terre Haute landscape will greet players as they arrive.
Some businesses and organizations got into the equestrian spirit by sponsoring the fiberglass colts that sprang up around town earlier this month. Organizations paid $2,000 to sponsor one of the 30 multicolored statues, and can buy them for an additional $1,000.
The event is a fund-raiser for the Sheldon Swope Art Museum. Event organizers chose the colt statues because they are an indirect reference to the football team — an Indiana icon, museum curator Mary Ann Michna said.
Organizers also chose the colts to be on display from July to September to coincide with the team’s ninth training camp, she said. She added that they have been very successful in getting people to ponder art and visit the museum.
“It’s pretty amazing the way people come in and photograph them, and children are touching them,” Michna said.
The Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau has worked to prepare some events for the camp. The bureau encourages businesses to display messages on their marquees and restaurants to advertise a “blue plate special” in recognition of the Colts, said Dave Patterson, executive director of the office.
“Those are things that we do every year,” he said.
Billboards along various major roadways near Terre Haute advertise the training camp. One such billboard on Interstate 70 in Clay County advertises to drivers traveling west that they are heading toward the training camp’s host city.
The Colts camp attracts tourists to Terre Haute, who provide the city with revenue from shopping, staying in hotels or even just buying gasoline for their vehicles.
Another big advantage that can’t be measured in price is the “image boost” that the city receives, said Rod Henry, president of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce.
He hopes that people visit city sites and “look to the $50 to $60 million of activity going” on downtown.
“I’m convinced that if they can find the time to tear themselves away from the Colts Camp for a few minutes, they’re going to leave this community with a much better impression than they’ve had in the past,” Henry said. “Terre Haute is a different community than it was two years ago, and it’s getting better every day.”
Several business representatives earlier this year obtained blue signs cheering on the Colts, which Henry hopes will be displayed in their windows as camp begins.
Camp attendance has steadily increased over the past few years, from about 18,800 fans in 2004 to 20,100 in 2005. Last year, more than 21,700 fans attended the camp.
Local businesses sometimes see visitors’ excitement. The National Football League reserved 15 rooms at the Holiday Inn on U.S. 41 for multiple nights during camp this year, a first for the hotel. Other media and football representatives have stayed there before, said Bill Burdine, general manager at the Holiday Inn.
Some people staying there will visit the Colts Camp, but it’s difficult to tell if they travel to Terre Haute just to visit the site, he said.
“Well, you have to realize that this is the peak volume months for [vacations],” Burdine added, “so normally we’re full every day” regardless of camp.
Attendance to the camp is free, although people will pay $10 per vehicle to park at Rose-Hulman. The money raised will go toward the college’s athletic programs.
Austin Arceo can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or austin.arceo@tribstar.com.
