Labor Day Weekend brings much needed business to Downtown Palm Springs
Hundreds of people visited Palm Springs this weekend to celebrate Labor Day, bringing in some much needed business after a slow summer season. Downtown Palm Springs was busy both Saturday and Sunday with families enjoying the cooler temperatures and labor day sales.
“We were here last weekend and there was nobody here it was very quiet,” said Robyn Asherbranner, a frequent tourist to the area.
The weekend’s bump in tourism, helping local business. Some Palm Springs hotels were at full capacity all three days. “Typically…Friday is always a slow day but this year it’s amazing how many people are coming from out of town” said Aftab Dada, Vice President of the Hilton Palm Springs.
The weekend also offered a bit of hope to one new local business, that hadn’t anticipated the dry summer season of sales. Rachel Hammond and her husband moved here and started their shop “La Akua” in downtown Palm Springs 10 months ago. They spoke with other local businesses before the move, and thought they were prepared for the slower months. They say it was financially much harder than they thought. “It’s hard enough with 120 degrees which we had I think 15 days in a row…and then the smoke…that week just killed us,” said Hammond, referring to the fires that brought smoke to the Coachella Valley.
But this weekend brought tourists, a spike in business and optimism for the future: “All of a sudden on Saturday morning it was like someone turned the water back on […] It gave us huge hope. Yesterday was our first good day all summer…so exciting,” said Hammond.
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