Aiken ready for Masters crowd

The Masters Tournament arrives at the Augusta National Golf Club on Monday, and with it comes a tidal wave of tourists to the Aiken-Augusta area.

Local businesses have already begun planning for the influx of business the tournament will bring to Aiken.

"We're pretty much booked up," said Peggy Greer, front desk manager of Hotel Aiken. "We're getting our rooms ready and getting ready for large crowds and lots of fun."

Carriage House Inn is also booked up, according to front desk manager Rachel Gardner.

"We're going to have a group of Australians here staying at the Carriage House Inn and at 13 other properties throughout downtown," she said. "We're putting on some extra staff, and I've made sure we're ordering the right stuff they'll want. We're doing touch-ups with the painting and deep cleans of all the rooms to get ready for Masters Week."

At Aiken Brewing Company, manager Jennifer Pruiett said the restaurant was preparing for a volume business.

"We're ordering a lot of extra food. We've got a great staff, and we're going with the staff we have; we think they can handle the extra volume. We've also got some former staffers coming back on duty through the week," she said. "Basically, during Masters Week, it's like every day is a sunny Saturday on the patio. We just have to be ready to go at any time."

On the Southside, Outback Steakhouse is restocking everything, according to manager Neil Arbaugh.

"What we've had to do preparation-wise, we've ordered a lot of operating supplies - more plates, more silverware - and we've added more servers. We're looking for it to be a busier than normal week for us, but we absolutely feel ready. We started seeing signs of it last week with busier weekdays, and we'll probably see the real rush start early Sunday when everybody will be arriving," he said.

Carla Cloud, executive director of the Aiken Downtown Development Association, has been helping locally-owned businesses make the most of the week of sports tourism.

"We've worked with the City of Aiken, the county, the tourism department and the regional tourism department," she said. "We all got together with the hoteliers and put together some welcome bags to put in the local hotels with brochures and a page of coupons for our member businesses. The coupons are also on our website. Some of our businesses are staying open longer hours this week; some are offering discounts to golfers and golf tourists."

A new feature of Masters Week in downtown Aiken is a special golf-themed production by the Aiken Community Playhouse, Cloud said.

Performances of "The Foursome" are at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for ages 60 and older and are available at the URS Center for the Performing Arts box office.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.