The fourth LaPorte invitational brought 11 of the best high school basketball programs in the country to LaPorte, Indiana.
The nationally televised event has been impactful for businesses as visitors from all over the US come to watch the teams play over three days.
Managers at ‘Round the Clock’ say the impact of the invitational has been noticeable all week.
“It brings in a lot of traffic, and then whole families coming in, like after the games and everything, or families coming to watch. Yeah, we have a lot of out of town visitors and guests, so that helps dramatically,” Jacob Pursch and Karley Campos said.
Campos says that some of the biggest customers this week were the teams themselves.
“I had a regular order that I’ve had all week, and they’ve been whole basketball teams ordering to go. I’ve had teams come in and eat. This whole week has been busy,” Campos said.
Those out of town visitors say while the main draw for them has been the basketball being played, supporting the local economy is important and can help them discover new businesses.
“It brings recognition for all the local businesses, ones that you don’t know about newer ones, you know upcoming ones. So I think it’s just a great opportunity for everybody involved,” Out of town visitor Maximilian McClendon said.
Basketball fans and the LaPorte community told me that while today was the last day of the invitational, they hope to see it return for the fifth time next year.