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Organizer says Atomic City Winter Classic draws teams, visitors to Los Alamos; asks to return to holiday weekend
Summary
The organizer of the eighth annual Atomic City Winter Classic adult hockey tournament told the Council the event brought teams from Colorado, Texas, California and around New Mexico, produced hotel stays and local spending, and asked to return the tournament to Martin Luther King Day weekend to boost future tourism.
Oscar Salas, organizer of the Atomic City Winter Classic adult hockey tournament, told the Los Alamos County Council on March 11 that the event’s eighth annual edition produced meaningful weekend tourism and asked the council to consider returning the tournament to the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend to increase participation and hotel stays.
Salas said the January event fielded 16 teams and about 224 adult players who traveled to Los Alamos from locations including Durango, El Paso, Dallas, Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque and other communities; two California teams had to be turned away because the tournament filled. The single‑weekend event produced 32 games over three days and required moving six games to Santa Fe because of demand.
Salas reported that a survey of players showed roughly 65% of participants stayed in Los Alamos hotels (primarily the Holiday Inn Express), 8% stayed in hotels outside Los Alamos, 8% used short‑term rentals such as VRBO/Airbnb, and 16% commuted from nearby cities. He said the tournament contracted local food and beverage vendors, hired local high‑school students to run scoreboards and worked with Discover Los Alamos to distribute player goodie bags.
Salas asked the council to consider allowing the tournament to return to its previous holiday weekend scheduling to increase hotel occupancy and local spending. He also presented council members with tournament shirts and memorabilia and invited a photo with players and volunteers.
Councilors thanked him for the presentation and for organizing an event that brought visitors to town off the peak tourist season.
