VIRGINIA HORSE CENTER HAS GROWING ECONOMIC IMPACT
IN LEXINGTON AREA AND STATE AS A WHOLE

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 28 -- Spending by participants
in events at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington resulted in
$56.6 million of total economic activity in the state last year,
according to a new study by the University of Virginia's Weldon
Cooper Center for Public Service.  Of that amount, 53 percent came
from out-of-state sources, with the major impact on restaurants,
hotels and service stations. 
	"Economic Impact of the Virginia Horse Center," by
economists Samuel R. Kaplan and John L. Knapp, also found that
during the past fiscal year the Virginia Horse Center has created
1,024 jobs in Virginia, produced some $2.1 million in state and
local tax revenues, and increased Virginians' earnings by $21.7
million, including $13.7 million in the Lexington-Rockbridge area.
	Direct spending in Virginia by participants at horse show
events during the last year is estimated at $22.8 million, of which
$18.8 million was spent in the Lexington-Rockbridge area.  Most of
the impact on earnings and jobs is also in the Lexington-Rockbridge
area.
	The horse center was established in 1987 to promote the
state's horse industry and provide a large modern indoor arena for
horse shows.
	Kaplan and Knapp project that annual spending will exceed
$30 million in today's dollars by the end of the decade if the
number of shows at the center expands from this year's 82 to the 99
planned.
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September 27, 1995
	REPORTERS, EDITORS: For additional information John Knapp
and Samuel Kaplan may be reached at (804) 982-5638.