Businesses Cash-in from Midland Music Fest
By: Stephanie Sobic
Updated: August 30, 2010
The saying goes, ’you've got to spend money to make money’ and for the city of Midland, footing the bill for a restored Centennial Plaza meant they could host events like Saturday's downtown music fest. This weekend's concert paid off, not only for the city, but for some downtown businesses too.
Saturday's Lonestar Music Fest was all day long and apparently more than 4,000 people showed up.
Meaning, thousands of people had to eat and some had to find a place to sleep that night. Two of the downtown businesses we spoke with said they reaped in the benefits because of that.
All rooms at the Hilton Midland Plaza were booked. In fact, General Manager for the Hilton, Keith Dial, said they had to turn away close to 40 potential customers. Something, he wasn't expecting.
"We haven't seen that kind of turn out in the rooms from concerts in awhile," says Dial.
Another downtown business that cashed-in on the concert was The Ground Floor.
"We benefited quite a bit, not substantially, but better than if we just had nothing on a regular Saturday," explains Michael Hagemann, with The Ground Floor.
Which, for The Ground Floor, was great exposure because right now the coffee house is a bit of a hidden treasure.
"When something happens downtown, people usually stop in and that's really good for business when that happens," says Hagemann.
The downtown Midland Lonestar Music Fest rocked out morning to night.
"We had a good time, we'd like to see more of these events going on, we encourage them," says Dial.
We also had a chance to speak with some local downtown restaurants who said they also saw a spark in business, especially their lunch crowd.
