The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) -- already attracting hundreds of the world’s best riders who inject millions into the local economy – plans to expand its facilities this year.

The event will run for six weeks at Flintfields Horse Park in Williamsburg from July 3 to August 11.

Currently, Flintfields boasts five competition rings and three schooling (warm-up) rings. In the next two weeks, construction will begin on a sixth competition ring. Nicky Meyer, director of sponsorship for GLEF, says the new ring will allow the competition to spread out its scheduling and avoid situations where competition stretches on well into the evening.

A new pavilion space is also under construction on the property to improve the spectator experience.

GLEF is also investing in new footing for two competition rings, a continuation of a project the festival began last year (“footing” is ground surface used in equestrian arenas). That investment, which began last year, represents a high six-figure expense.  The investment is substantial, but Meyer says it is essential for bringing in top competitors and keeping them in northern Michigan for extended periods of time.

“These horses are top athletes, just like the top athletes in any other sport,” Meyer says. “Some of them are worth six or seven figures. So, they can’t pound on hard footing for six weeks. The fact that GLEF was able to replace our footing means that more people are going to stay for six weeks, where in the past they might have come for just two or three weeks because they needed to be careful with their horses.”

Keeping horses and their exhibitors in the Traverse City area for longer plays into GLEF’s mission to be an economic driver for the community. In 2017, GLEF commissioned a study that calculated the festival’s total economic impact at more than $124 million. Festival exhibitors stay in the Grand Traverse area for an average of 19 nights and bring average party sizes of more than 10 people.

Meyer says the festival has seen consistent growth since it began in 2015. In 2018, she says the festival drew horses and exhibitors from 44 states and seven countries. On the biggest weeks of the festival, there were 1,100 horses on hand to compete in a range of show jumping contests.

Part of the reason for the growth has been a push to establish GLEF as a world-class equestrian competition. Currently, the last four weeks of the festival are sanctioned by the FEI (Fédération Equestre Internationale), which is the international equestrian governing body. Only in FEI-sanctioned events can riders and horses earn world ranking points, which means those events tend to draw the top competitors in the sport. Last year, GLEF exhibitors included past Olympians and a former World Cup champion.

“Every year, we’ve worked on increasing the prize money and expanding the number of FEI weeks [at our festival],” Meyer says. “That’s part of the reason why we continue to grow our exhibitor base.” (For the last two weeks of GLEF, the prize money for grand prix events stands at $130,000.)

In addition to bringing more exhibitors to northern Michigan, GLEF is also aiming to capture more of the local audience. Audra Jackson was recently hired into a community relations role, leading outreach strategies to spread the word about GLEF and encourage more locals to attend.

Jackson says it’s not uncommon for locals to “come out and say, ‘This is really awesome, I love it, but I’m not sure what’s going on.’” Through presentations to local groups, Jackson is hoping to bridge that gap.

GLEF is also adding a series of community days this summer, offering opportunities for corporate entertainment, and launching a fundraising program which allows local nonprofits, youth sports groups, and other similar organizations to make money by selling tickets to GLEF’s Sunday grand prix events.

The goal, ultimately, is to get more people to Flintfields to enjoy the competition.

“This is high-level sport, and it adds to the excitement when you’re competing for $130,000 to have people there cheering on their favorites,” Jackson says. “So that’s something we are moving toward, is integration of the horse show and the community.”