Although the fest season had officially kicked off last weekend with Mill Fest, business owners are already seeing increases in their sales and expect for sales to continue to tick upward as Saturday’s High Fest approaches.
“It looks good. We’ve made probably 30 percent more than regular weekends,” said Curt McClain, owner of Uptown Grill, 11 W. Union St.
Tracy Dunkin, manager of O’Bettys Red Hot!, 15 W State St., struck a similar estimate of “25 percent or more” of increase in sales as well.
Sales usually depend on many things, according to other business owners in the area.
“Last year, Juicy J didn’t come, so a lot of people didn’t come out as it was expected,” said Rachael Ritchie, owner of GoodFella’s Pizza, 6 W. Union St. “It also rained last year during the season, so it was a bit of downer.
The sales also depend on the kind of fest, Ritchie said.
“Historically, High Fest has been more quiet than other fests,” she said. “On the other hand, Palmer Fest and Number Fest are huge here.”
Dunkin and McClain agreed.
“Number Fest is a killer,” McClain said. “We also make the most out of Palmer Fest because it’s usually after midterms and lots of students come out and try to have fun.”
Shawn Hawks, owner of Skin Hooked Tattoo & Body Piercing, 8 N. Court St., estimated “10-20 percent” of increase in sales this year.
“We didn’t open the shop during last year’s fest season,” Hawks said. “But this year, we decided to open and we’ve been really busy. We even had to turn customers back because we couldn’t take them all in.”
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This article appeared in print under the headline "Sales increase with fests"
