Farm Bureau Sponsors First-Ever Community Spirit Awards for Tour of Missouri
Missouri Farm Bureau is taking an active role as a major sponsor for this year's Tour of Missouri professional cycling race. Along with promoting the Tour of Missouri, hosting several bicycle safety events and providing bicycle and helmet giveaways all across the state, Missouri Farm Bureau is sponsoring the first-ever Community Spirit Awards for host and route cities demonstrating the most spirit in promoting and supporting the Tour of Missouri.
"Missouri Farm Bureau is proud to be a Gold Sponsor for this year's Tour of Missouri and providing the Tour of Missouri Farm Bureau Community Spirit Awards," said Charles Kruse, president of Missouri Farm Bureau. "This event is a great way to showcase to the world not only Missouri but also Missouri agriculture which will be on display throughout much of the race."
Host cities eligible for the Community Spirit Award are communities where the race begins and ends each day of the 7 stages scheduled September 8th - 14th. These communities are competing for a $5,000 prize, and the winner will be announced on the final race day. Host cities include St. Joseph, Kansas City, Clinton, Springfield, Branson, Lebanon, Rolla, St. James, Jefferson City, Hermann, St. Charles and St. Louis.
Route cities are communities along the route between two different host cities, which means about 40 communities along stages 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 will compete for the Community Spirit Award. On each of these 5 days a route city winner of a $1000 prize will be announced. Then on the final day of the race, an overall route city winner will be announced which will receive a $5,000 prize award.
The prize money is to be used for community improvements and fitness promotion such as creating or improving bike trails, new playground equipment and developing or improving city parks. Eligible communities interested in participating need to fill out an entry form which can be obtained from Missouri Farm Bureau or the Tour of Missouri.
In addition to the $15,000 in Community Spirit awards, Missouri Farm Bureau and county Farm Bureaus will be sponsoring the lead vehicle, volunteer t-shirts, bicycle drawings, helmet giveaways, refreshments and will host about 75 bicycle safety and other community events during the months of August and September.
Missouri Farm Bureau is the state's largest general farm organization representing farmers and providing scholarships, agricultural education, marketing services, member discounts and many other benefits. The Missouri Farm Bureau Family of Companies offers high-quality insurance products for auto, life, health and is headquartered in Jefferson City.
For more information, contact Keith Cramer, Missouri Farm Bureau Community Spirit Award coordinator at 573-893-1585 or kcramer@mofb.com. For more information on the Tour of Missouri visit www.tourofmissouri.com.
|
