Over Mother’s Day weekend in May, the Aspen Lacrosse Club hosted its annual Aspen Shoot Out Lacrosse Tournament at Crown Mountain Park, west of Willits. The event brought 99 teams to El Jebel (a 15-team increase over last year) as well as an estimated 7,000 visitors, between players and fans, thus inviting an economic uptick to the area.
The Shoot Out Lacrosse Tournament is often a major event both economically and socially for the Willits Town Center, beating out both last-minute Christmas shopping and New Year’s Eve celebrations when it comes to the number of attendees (read on for details on that).
“Based on conservative sports‑tourism spending assumptions, that one weekend likely generated on the order of $630,000 to just over $1 million in direct visitor spending on lodging, dining, fuel, shopping and related purchases, with a reasonable midpoint around $840,000 — and closer to $1.4 to $1.6 million in total economic impact, once indirect and induced effects are included,” Crown Mountain Park Executive Director Becky Wagner stated in an email to The Sopris Sun.
She added that Basalt Chamber Placer.ai data identified the three busiest days in 2025 in Willits Town Center as May 10 (Mother’s Day weekend), taking the lead with an estimated 7.83K visits, Dec. 22 (last-minute Christmas shopping) with 7.28K visits and Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve) with 7.25K visits.
Despite the economic influx from such events, Wagner explained that Crown Mountain Park itself isn’t making much revenue from it.
“People think we benefit from these events … For us, it’s just about creating healthy lifestyles,” she stated.
Wagner went on to explain the importance of the lacrosse event through the lens of a local parent, consistently attending their child’s sports events all over the state, and beyond.
“I’m literally going to Utah for a basketball tournament next weekend. So just to put it in perspective, we consistently as a community are constantly trying to get our kids to Denver and Grand Junction and all over the state,” said Wagner. “It is very nice for us to have local tournaments. It’s just kind of a break for our families living here.”
While this year’s iteration had an especially large turnout, the Willits Town Center has had some opportunity to acclimate to such visitor booms. But that wasn’t initially the case.
Tim Belinski, the town developer of Willits, explained some about the first year trying to accommodate this massive crowd, and the unexpected challenges that came along with that.
“The first year that it occurred, most of the providers at Willits were overrun with business that they didn’t anticipate, to the point Whole Foods ran out of a lot of their food and the restaurants were running very thin,” recalled Belinski. “It was a good thing, but it showed how much of an impact it had.”
Today, locals are better prepared and mostly welcome the extra business.
“It’s a very meaningful influx that our businesses are geared up for, ramped up for and supportive of,” continued Belinski. “So there’s really an embracing of it that’s happening on those big weekends.”
Next year’s tournament will be the 20th annual, and it would be safe to assume another marked increase in the amount of guests.
For more information on upcoming events at Crown Mountain Park, visit its website at crownmtn.org