Premier Event, Premier Location

El Tour de Tucson Chooses Downtown for Start, Finish

By Tiffany Kjos

Everything about the nation’s top-rated El Tour de Tucson is getting bigger. And much of the renowned cycling event’s appeal is Downtown Tucson – the ride’s home base – with its new hotels, renovated convention center, and acclaimed restaurants and bars. 

El Tour and its three-day Expo & Fiesta attract thousands of visitors, and downtown in-turn offers a great place to sleep, eat and enjoy Tucson’s unique southwestern vibe.

“It’s a two-way street. We’re an event that definitely brings in tourism, people from all over the world, and when we’re able to showcase the hotels, the riding, the taverns, the restaurants, it adds to an amazing experience,” said T.J. Juskiewicz, executive director of Perimeter Bicycling Association, the nonprofit that produces El Tour. “It’s not just a bike ride. Come for the weekend, come for the week, and experience all these great things.”

El Tour’s signature rides used to begin at various places and wind up downtown. Now, riders set off from the TCC, at 260 S. Church Ave., which just completed a $65-million renovation.

“In the past we’ve started at places like Udall Park and up in Marana, then they would ride to downtown,” Juskiewicz said. “Now people start and end downtown. It just really puts that emphasis that this is a downtown event.”

In his four years in Tucson, Juskiewicz has already seen a huge spike in El Tour ridership, from around 5,000 riders in 2019 to 9,000 today. Juskiewicz also has witnessed great growth downtown, including the opening of the new Leo Kent Hotel, the Hampton Inn Tucson Downtown, Home2 Suites by Hilton Downtown, and the DoubleTree by Hilton Tucson Downtown Convention Center.

“There’s nothing better for us, an active cycling event, than to have hotels where people can come into those hotels and be able to ride their bike over to the event. That’s just fantastic,” he said.

New restaurants and bars, such as Sonora Moonshine Co., also add to El Tour and downtown’s allure, Juskiewicz said. “There is business, commerce that is happening. We have a vibrant downtown, and the more stuff that keeps happening downtown, more events, different things like that, it’s going to build downtown back up.”

Es Teran is owner and CEO of Sonoran Moonshine and Borderlands Brewing Co, which are both downtown.

“Events like El Tour de Tucson are incredibly important to Borderlands Brewing and Sonora Moonshine Company,” Teran said. “Since Sonora Moonshine opened in May of this year, we’ve seen tremendous local support from our community. As the weather cools and University of Arizona students return, we notice an influx of out-of-town visitors eager to explore Tucson’s unique charm, culinary experiences and the Old Pueblo’s allure. 

“We’re excited to host these visitors at both Sonora Moonshine and Borderlands Brewing, but we’re equally committed to maintaining and celebrating the strong support of our Tucson community.”

Both of Teran’s venues will no doubt see lots of spillover from El Tour’s free Expo & Fiesta, which easily sold 120 booths last year at the TCC and features food, drinks and entertainment.

“We pretty much fill up the convention center, the big main expo hall, so that’s a good thing,” Juskiewicz said. “We’re bringing in vendors from all over the world. A lot of them are here to showcase what they’re doing as far as say, bike manufacturers, but we have a lot of our nonprofits that want to reach the people and just say, hey, we’re riding for this cause.”

El Tour partners with about 75 charitable organizations, including Rotary, whose members come from all over the world to ride, and have raised more than $65 million in 14 years of participating in El Tour. That amount includes a 2-for-1 match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

El Tour is considered the biggest fundraiser in Rotary’s 100-year history, with many Rotarians returning every year to experience Tucson and raise money to stamp out polio, which is Rotary’s No. 1 objective, said Southern Arizona Rotary ride director and participant Gary Hirsch.

“It’s become a major party, and it’s actually spawned other events all around the world,” Hirsch said. “It’s just an amazing event for us every year, and 100% of the money we raise goes to polio eradication. We take nothing for our own operating costs. But without El Tour we wouldn’t have this opportunity. We could never do this if it were not an organized ride.”