Manhattan is rolling out the red carpet for visiting teams in town for the women’s March Madness tournament this weekend.
Kansas State is the No. 4 seed in the Albany 2 region and will host Portland in the first of a doubleheader at Bramlage Coliseum. The game will be followed by Colorado vs. Drake at 7 p.m. The winners of both contests will then play in the second round of the tournament Sunday at a yet to be determined time.
2017 was the last time Manhattan hosted a March Madness regional.
Lauren Chard is the Sports and Sales Manager with Visit Manhattan, the tourism arm of the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce. She says the event has the town buzzing.
“Yesterday there was a large March Madness blow-up that made its way around town yesterday. So it was on campus, and then it was in Aggieville. People could take a photo op, and then it was downtown by our office so we had a lot of our board members go over there and take some photos.”
Chard also says the Chamber of Commerce has been reaching out to the community as it prepares for the influx of visitors.
“So the impact will be huge for the community, I’ve been with Gina from Downtown Manhattan and she has been great about posting on social media. I know their restaurants are ready to go. I talked to Dennis cook with Aggieville yesterday, and they’re getting the word out there. So it’s going to have a huge, huge impact for the whole community.”
Current estimates show over 90% of hotels in Manhattan are sold out for Friday and Saturday night. Bluemont Hotel General Manager Cale Harrington…
“I’m sure Aggieville is going to see a big influx of business and the restaurants around town are gonna be full. Honestly for us it feels like another football weekend because it’s got that level of energy.”
Harrington says the hotel hosts special events and sports teams regularly, but did extra preparation for this event with the help of the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce.
“They’ve got QR codes at our front desks with information that kind of direct people. They help us too by giving us hospitality training so we know how to refer people to different restaurants downtown.”
The K-State women will play at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
