Bill Lee is back as director
of Adventure Gallup

Former Gallupian Bill Lee has returned to town and is the new director of Adventure Gallup.
[photo by Jeff Jones / Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — A century ago, many of those who came to Gallup were uneducated, unskilled laborers seeking jobs with the railroads and the mines.

A half century ago, Gallup began attracting those who came to buy Indian arts and crafts and enjoy the culture of the nearby Indian reservations.

But today, Gallup is beginning too attract a new breed of visitor — tanned men and women in good physical shape who want the challenge of walking, running or biking on Gallup’s trail system.

And when they come, one of the first people they usually meet is Bill Lee.

Lee, who has been an integral part of the Red Rock Balloon Rally since its beginning, left Gallup 18 months ago. He had given up a long career as a radio broadcaster and director at Red Rock Park to take a job in El Paso promoting a sports convention center.

In March, Lee came back home to Gallup, saying his family missed the area and their friends.

It was fortunate, Lee said, that the Adventure Gallup position opened up and his wife, Jennifer, was able to go back to work at her old job with the Disabilities Services, Inc.

But state Rep. Patty Lundstrom, who has been one of the main supporters of Adventure Gallup and the development of the trails system, said Gallup was fortunate to get someone like Lee to run the program.

Lee stepped into the program running, planning the early stages of the second annual Tour of the Nations, meetings with community organizations to get more local support for the trails and coming up with ideas to promote the trail system worldwide.

“What Adventure Gallup is doing,” Lundstrom said, “is bringing to Gallup a whole different clientele.”

A former Gallup mayor, Bob Rosebrough, agrees that Lee and the Adventure Gallup program were a “perfect fit.”

Rosebrough said Adventure Gallup and the trail system has been good for Gallupians, because it has improved the quality of life here for a lot of area residents and not only those who use the trail for recreation and health reasons.
It has also proven to be financially rewarding to owners of motels and restaurants here who have seen their business increase because of events like the Tour of the Nations and the Dawn to Dusk races.

Lee, who now has a desk in the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce building, said one of his priorities will be to promote Gallup as a destination for people who like the outdoors and like to mountain bike, walk or run and get more tourism throughout the eight or so months that the trails are used extensively.

And it seems to be working because just recently, Lee said he met a family from upstate New York state who came to Gallup only because they had heard of the trial system and wanted to see if it was as good as people were saying it was.

“That’s what I want to see,” Lee said. “People coming back to use the trail system and then staying over.”

What may even be better, he said, is to have those people who came and were impressed about the trail system go back home and spread the word about what Gallup has to offer to those into mountain biking and hiking.

When this happens, he said, everyone benefits because this brings in more tourists, which increases the gross receipt tax revenue which provides more money for the city and county to provide more services.

Albert Ortega, owner of High Mesa Bikes and Gears in downtown Gallup, said he is already seeing the town benefit because of its new image.

“On any given day, even in the middle of the week, I see three or four sets of people come to me shop from out of town,” he said.

These people, all interested in riding, walking or running the trails, come from all over the United States, he said.
“And they stay for more than one day, buying food and staying at local motels,” he said.