NO VACANCIES

Yuma hotels fill up for busy weekend

If you have visitors coming to Yuma this weekend and they don’t have a hotel reservation, you’d better prepare the couch. Most lodging accommodations will be hanging out the “no vacancy” sign, according to the Yuma Visitors Bureau.

Linda Morgan, executive director, said the bureau surveyed hotels and motels Wednesday morning and found most are at full capacity this weekend. It’s not surprising because Friday is the grand opening

of Yuma’s Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex and the start of the early dove hunting season.

“This is going to be a really good season opener because it falls on a Friday,” Morgan said, noting that visitors started streaming into Yuma “a little earlier,” on Thursday.

Most hotels told the bureau they were completely booked, while a few said they were somewhere between 80 and 100 percent.

Friday’s opening day of the PAAC begins at 6 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by the opening ceremonies for the

2017 USA Softball Men’s Western Class E Slow Pitch National Tournament.

The tournament has brought in nine out-of-town teams, with one of them traveling in from Oahu, Hawaii, according to Debbie Wendt, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“We always figure about 14-15 players per team and about an average of 1.5 friends and relatives traveling with (each player),” she said.

Both activities are expected to have a “huge” economic impact on the community.

In particular, Morgan said, the early dove hunting season “comes in at a good time, at the end of summer,

when the merchants really need it. It’s great for Yuma.

“All you have to do is look around town and you’ll see hunters eating at restaurants, staying in hotels, shopping, buying fuel, ammunition, licenses. It should be a really great season.”

At the end of the early season, the community comes together to clean up the fields that farmers graciously open to hunters. This year the cleanup is set for Sept. 16, and everyone is welcome to participate.

“It really does say thank you to the farmer,” she noted.

The bureau will team up with Arizona Game and Fish to organize the cleanup from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.

“There’s a whole lot of trash, and it’s a good opportunity for team-building for businesses and organizations,” Morgan said.

Volunteers will be treated to breakfast burritos, gloves and a general admission ticket to the Rio de Cerveza Festival to be held Oct. 21. Of course, plenty of trash bags are always provided.

In addition, volunteers will get raffle tickets for “really good” prizes provided by local merchants such as Sprague’s Sports.

And Morgan reminds volunteers to bring a truck to haul out the trash.

To sign up, call (928) 3760100.