Music Festivals Provide Boost For Local Businesses

Local businesses are sad to say goodbye to the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.

Although traffic was a mess, the festival crowd provided a boost to the local economy, which is in desperate need of good news. some say business could have been better. But, these days, restaurants and hotels are taking any business they can get.

The cash registers wouldn’t stay closed. Food was flying out the ovens and off the shelves, and customers dressed for the festival were willing to shell out cash for a hot meal.

“It’s been crowded all weekend,” said Kevin Hampton, who is in town for the weekend for the festival.

“I would say at the end of the day, we’ll probably walk out $1,000 in debt,” said Cameron Geery, who can’t wait to watch Brooks and Dunn perform Sunday night.

Kevin Hampton and his wife Shenelle also spent about $1,000 this weekend. But, they say it was worth it.

“We’re more than happy to eat out and, you know, have a fun weekend,” he said.

“It’s really nice to help out the local community and kind of give back,” said Shenelle. “We’re having a really great weekend here.”

“[Saturday] was really slow,” said Kelley Sloan, Owner of Sloan’s Restaurant. “But, today’s been pretty good. We’ve pretty much had a wait all day.”

Parking lots were packed. Restaurants were full, and hotels filled to capacity. It might not be the boost businesses hoped for. But, still, it was a boost.

“Every year we wait. We wait for this day,” said Flora Orozco, an employee at The Royal Plaza Inn. “We wait for this weekend.”

That’s because hotel rooms booked up quickly.

“We’ve had 100 percent occupancy – [a] 3-day sell out,” said Orozco.

“Coachella [Fest] we were down 14 percent for the 4 days,” said Sloan, who mentioned that business from Stagecoach at his restaurant is down compared to last year, partly because people aren’t leaving the festival grounds.

“They have trailers [and] buses,” he said. “They have their food – not only that. But. . . they have a lot more vendors this year.”

Alisha Nichols and her friend Cameron Geery say it’s not a vacation unless you’re willing to spend. But, next year, they know where they could save.

“We booked the hotel late, like a month ago,” said Nichols. “So, they’d already jacked the price up.”

“Book the hotel in advance,” said Geery. “I promise, you’ll benefit from it.”