TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – March Madness is in the air, and local businesses in Indiana are hoping for a big economic boost this weekend.
Two Indiana teams, Purdue and IU, are competing in March Madness tournaments this year, starting Friday evening.
Managers are preparing for a busy few days at Rick’s Garage at the Idle Creek Golf Course in Terre Haute.
This is the restaurant’s first March Madness since undergoing major renovations last year.
“We really look forward to having big events,” says co-owner Ryan Baker. “We do our best to serve everybody; let them have a good time. We hope to continue to be able to that. And, it’s nice to support our local teams, whether it’s Indiana State, or Purdue or IU. Either one. [It] doesn’t matter.”
March Madness isn’t the only tournament of Hoosier interest this weekend. Indiana State University will be using Rick’s Garage as its home base for this weekend’s CBI.
“We’re really excited to have all of the Sycamore fans out here,” Baker explained. “ We’ve got a lot of reservations but we are still taking walk-ins, it’s first come, first serve so, if you want to catch a seat, come in early.”
“Well, last year we had a great attendance in the Dawgleg, the old restaurant that we still have open and we have a our new facility with our televisions and we’ve had good business. I look forward to that continuing, on top of it being St. Patrick’s Day [Friday].”
ISU will play in the CBI Saturday starting at 11:00 a.m.