Roots N Blues Festival brings music, money to Columbia
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The popular Roots N Blues music festival returns to Columbia Sept. 24 through Sept. 26, and with it comes a significant boom to the economy.
Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau did an economic impact study on the most recent Roots N Blues festival in 2019. It showed that the festival brings in about $2.7 million to the economy.
Megan McConachie with the Convention and Visitors Bureau said that money is going to restaurants, hotels and shops, which should aid in their recovery from last year's economic downturn.
"It will be a long recovery, but events like this where there's an influx of people and a lot of new spending that wasn't present last year, definitely that's a positive turn of events and when we looked at last year," McConachie said.
McConachie said the money that comes in from large events, such as Roots N Blues, will stimulate the economy all year.
"Not only does that support small businesses, but also the revenue that comes into our community benefits residents year-round," McConachie said.
Angela Bondoni, assistant manager at Lakota Coffee Company, said participating in Roots N Blues is great marketing for the shop.
"Even people from out of state they'll think about us next time just cause they came and got out coffee at the tent," Bondoni said. "We usually have a line out the door all day until about 8 p.m."
