Local businesses welcome thousands of visitors during holiday weekend

The Memorial Day weekend brought in thousands of visitors to the Coachella Valley, which was a good thing for local shops.

The weekend came with a surge of customers. Some of them saying they saw two to three times more than usual. "Palm Springs has been alive finally,” said Co-Owner of Kalura Trattoria Ignazio Battaglia.

Local businesses welcomed the holiday travel rush. “It was very very busy, a lot of people in Palm Springs, they couldn’t wait to get out,” said Battaglia. And for Urs Wyelo, Owner of The Thirsty Palms- “Very busy, unbelievably busy. We’ve been nearly sold out.”

This, as thousands of people made their way out to the desert for the weekend. Downtown Palm Springs was packed with visitors, the most many have seen in a long time.

“It’s real good especially for the community of Palm Springs to have people out. I think it antagonizes people to come out as well and we need it, everybody needs it,” said Executive Chef of The Thirsty Palms.

Especially with most restrictions from the pandemic lifted, shops were excited to see the area flooded with people.

“It’s been pretty good actually. I mean, It’s been steady, pretty busy you know the weather has been nice so you know people have been coming out from like LA or like even further like Sacramento,” said Crystal with Lush Couture.

And after this weekend, they said it felt like life before the pandemic. “Happy to see people out and see everything go back to normal or at least what normal looks like to be,” said Battaglia.

Many of the businesses said this was a great way to kick off the summer season and they’re excited to see what the season will bring.