Cape shined for Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run

On Sept. 9, Cape Girardeau had the opportunity to host a Welcome Party for the 2014 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run. Cape Girardeau was selected as an overnight stop due in part to the excellent experience their route planner had when the Great Race visited Cape in 2013. This may have been a one-time opportunity to experience the Motorcycle Cannonball without leaving home, since it has never previously passed through Cape Girardeau.

As it turned out, we had Cannonball riders from 24 states and 10 foreign countries including Italy, Poland, Germany and South Africa, and around 2,000 spectators -- many of whom traveled several hours to check out the Cannonball bikes and visit with their riders. Between filling our hotel rooms, dining at our restaurants, buying gas and visiting our antique shops, all of these visitors had a significant positive impact on our local economy.

Everyone we visited with was impressed with the quality of our event and with the beauty of downtown Cape Girardeau and our riverfront, with many of our out-of-town visitors indicating they planned to come back to experience more of what Cape Girardeau has to offer.

The ultimate compliment may have come from an article on the Cannonball website the day after our event, which stated that "Norman Rockwell himself could not have painted a more perfect picture of the American Heartland."

In my opinion, this event epitomized what Cape Girardeau is all about. I could not have been prouder of the way our entire community pulled together to make our Welcome Party a huge success. Everyone from our local citizens who came downtown to visit with the Cannonball participants, to our local businesses who served as our event sponsors, to the local news media who went above and beyond to publicize our event, to the city of Cape Girardeau's police, fire and park departments who accommodated our every need, deserves a big thank you.

I would like to give special thanks to the following corporate sponsors whose financial generosity made this event possible: Grassroots BMW, Lawless Harley-Davidson, First Missouri State Bank, KFVS TV, MidAmerica Hotels/Popeye's Chicken, Capaha Bank, Bel Air Bar & Grill, The Library, Hot Shots, Bella Italia, McAlister's Deli, Isle of Capri, Charter Cable, River Radio and Withers Radio.

I would also like to thank our many volunteers for providing manpower the day of the event, Grassroots BMW for making mechanical assistance available, Isle of Capri for the use of their parking lot and shuttle bus and any one else who contributed whom I may have overlooked.

Finally, I would like to thank Cape Girardeau's Convention and Visitors Bureau, Old Town Cape and the team of volunteers who served on our committee and worked tirelessly to make this event happen. Let's hope the Motorcycle Cannonball organizers were sufficiently impressed that they will consider bringing the Cannonball back for a return visit in the near future.

Danny Essner was the chairman of the Cape Girardeau Motorcycle Cannonball Committee.