Coachella weekends brought fewer crowds, some Palm Springs business owners say
The 2022 Coachella Music and Arts Festival is officially in the books.
It was a busy couple of weekends for the East Valley, while Palm Springs felt only some of that Coachella rush.
Many businesses were prepared for the surge in customers. “We’ve been very very happy with numbers that we’ve seen so far this year," said Bill Miltenberger an employee with Brandini Toffee.
While others saw less business than expected. “I would say probably about 50%. Yeah, it was not-- and we were prepared for a busy Coachella,” said the owner of Crazy Mel's George Kessinger.
For some local shops in Palm Springs, the event actually took away some of their business.
“Not bad but not very well because the people were in Coachella and too many of them didn’t come in the city to visit Downtown Palm Springs," said an employee of 13 Palm Springs Hamid Dejacom.
Kessinger told News Channel 3 he believes the reason for the lack of business is because people are still getting used to life after the pandemic. “I think the absentee of Coachella not being here over the last 2 years. I think there was a different group of people, there was a routine, that routine has been broken and it’s just like in anything, and when the routine is broken then it kind of disrupts everything.”
And despite what some describe as a slower festival season, some businesses are prepping for other big events coming back to the Valley.
“Just staffing, you know building the staff up and make sure there are plenty of people because we can always send them home if it’s slow and just being prepared,” Kessinger added.
And some businesses said they have high hopes for what’s to come.
“We’re excited. We’re excited that it’s going in the right direction and we’re also excited that people didn't forget about us during the pandemic and they had a lot of pressure just going on in their lives and it’s great to see them come back,” said Miltenberger.
The Coachella Valley will be welcoming The White Party and Stagecoach this weekend.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing coverage of those events.
