Great Lakes - Holding a cycling event?

I just got out of a meeting with the mayor (I work for a local municipality). He was saying that he wants our town (12,500 people, near I-80 & I-55) to host/sponsor some sort of weekend outdoor event, to attract people to the area. As he is a big proponent of our bike paths and trails programs, and is on the committee for the 2016 Olympics, I mentioned "what about something relating to cycling." He thought it was worth looking into further. There are other ideas that others are working on, but I think I will try to back a cycling agenda.

So, here is the step 1 brainstorming phase. What kind of event? The primary objective is to draw people to the area, and focus on the outdoors activities we have to offer (State/county forest preserves, the I&M Canal trail, Park district, etc). This could be done by not only participants, but spectators as well.

I'm not an event planner by any means, I'm an IT guy, I just happened to be in a meeting and like cycling. Does anyone have any ideas that might help me get a ball rolling in some direction?

Might look into hosting a race as part of either Superweek (http://www.iccsuperweek.com/) or the new Midwest Cycling Series (http://www.midwestcyclingseries.com/)

Couple that with maybe some more informal ride/activity to get spectators involved as well?

We did one last year that was geared towards kids and held in conjunction with some other family oriented events- we gave away 75 bike helmets, passed out some self guided walking/bicycling tours, had a bike mechanic from REI do inspections, the cops did bike registrations and we tried to do a bike rodeo. We're going to do it again this year, and hope to have more kids bring their bikes so we can do the rodeo too.

You might try asking whatever the Chicago Bicycle Federation changed into - but be patient. I've been waiting for over a week to hear from them when I asked them about helping plan the rodeo part of this years event.

Joliet Bicycle Club used to host a great century called the "Sudden Century" that they no longer host. The route and logistics for that are already worked out you would just need to move the date to something a little less "Spring" weather prone.

Also....For pure community event I would suggest an actual bike race. It contains the action to a small area in the exact location that you want people to visit. They aren't enormously hard to organize - I have seen some half-wits do it.

I'd love to see something added to one of the series mentioned. That would bring in a lot of people from the outside, but that would mean you would have some of the countries top domestic pros showing up as well. Problem is that the Midwest series seems like it's going to stick with old Superweek venues as well as stay a bit more Wisconsin centric.

Superweek organizers have been kown to be headaches to the areas in which they host their events. FWIW

Try to talk a local team into hosting a Crit.

Also....For pure community event I would suggest an actual bike race. It contains the action to a small area in the exact location that you want people to visit.
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Try to talk a local team into hosting a Crit.

This would be cool. Have the start/finish line at the Rialto Theater.

FWIW - every club is required to promote an event every year. Approaching a team and letting them know that the hard part - getting the city behind the idea - is already solved will almost ensure instant action.

Good and helpful ideas so far. Thanks everyone. Perhaps a combination of the suggestions would work well. A weekend-long event is coming to mind. Something like this (again, very-rough-draft early ideas):

Saturday:
Attract as many people to bike into the area as possible, via the I&M canal trail or road routes. Have a central meeting place (like one of the large community parks), where a bike "rally" of sorts could be held. Our Police Dept. has held training locations for bike patrols for other police departments in the past - they could do demos. They have done helmet giveaways (sponsored by Bell) for a few summers, and could be out to register bicycles. A "family" bicycle type of day. Maybe some BMX jumping/trick course could be setup (for spectators to watch, not really for everyone to go ride on).

Sunday:
(something missing)
Cap off the weekend with Crit racing. Focus more on the professional or high-end side of cycling, not necessarily the family activities of Saturday, but family spectating of racers.

Jeff from Mainstreet Bicycles in Carpentersville has really turned the Carpentersville cyclocross race into a community event. It might be a good idea to give him a call or dropp him a line for advice. He's the shop owner there.