How Hosting a Festival in Your Town Can Increase Revenue and Tourism
Throughout my blog, I have focused most of my research around a patron’s perspective of a music festival and how that can influence many different factors. As I looked deeper into music festivals around the country, I began to wonder about the economic impact festivals have on their communities.
In one article I found while browsing this search, Rachel Carter, an economist at Mississippi State spoke to the many benefits of hosting a festival, specifically in a small town. Her main points were that festivals can not only boost local economies, but also create an attraction and sense of pride for certain towns.
Although the Gilroy Garlic Festival isn’t music related, the festival is an example of a town event that can help with recognizability within their state and beyond. The festival brings tourists to the town and can boost local businesses.
Many music festivals can have the same effect for smaller towns. For instance, festivals like Bottlerock and the Sonoma Harvest Music Festival. Both festivals are put on by the same organization and hosted in the Sonoma area. The festivals offer a venue to showcase what the area is known for, food and wine, while also bringing in tourists year after year .
When I was browsing the Sonoma Harvest Festival website, I was inspired to write this post because of their suggested lodging and transportation options. The website gave almost no direction or input as to where exactly people should stay but instead eluded to the fact that the area has hospitable options for everyone. Not to mention the fact that the event is hosted at a local winery with local food being served.
In an article published by University of Minnesota, Ingrid Schneider, director of the University of Minnesota Tourist Center, also spoke to the benefits of having festivals in towns throughout Minnesota. She adds that the social benefits of hosting festivals is equally as important at the economic ones, they are just less visible to the public. She emphasizes that most importantly they can foster pride within a community and strengthen relationships.
In terms of fostering community pride, many of the smaller festivals can make the biggest difference in communities throughout the US. An example of this is the Hardly Strictly Bluegrasss festival in my hometown of San Francisco. The festival was created as a “Strictly Bluegrass” festival by a local musician who has deep rooted family ties to the area. Once they started bringing in bands that weren’t strictly bluegrass, the festival adopted its new title. Even though the bay area isn’t know for twang or country style music, the (free) event brings the community together and is a tradition that people look forward to year after year.
Although festivals may seem all about music, there are hundreds of factors that go into crafting, marketing, and executing the perfect festival! And when everything comes together, it can cause magic in a small town.
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