Deep Roots brings deep pockets

The streets of Milledgeville’s historic downtown were packed this past Saturday. Just under 1,500 visitors and residents alike roamed through the masses of attractions that Milledgeville’s annual Deep Roots Festival had to offer. From the jewelry vendors to food merchants and the art displays to antique cars, everyone had something to enjoy during the day. Music lovers jammed out to the sounds of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and kids jumped around on the inflatables at the Kid Zone.

The festival was not fun and games for everyone downtown though. Downtown restaurant owners and employees were busier than any other weekend of the year.

Junior economics major Mitch Duke decided to eat downtown after exploring the festival.

“I have never seen The Brick so busy,” Duke said. I had to wait 50 minutes for a table. The hostesses were asking for cell phone numbers to call people who were waiting because they were out of buzzers.”

Heather Holder, executive director of Milledgeville Mainstreet, the organization which organizes and carries out the festival each year, said she heard from owners of downtown restaurants that reported three times the sales of a normal weekend.

“I’ve heard a lot of other places say that sales for one day of Deep Roots are around what a bad week would be,” Chops 119 manager Brian Bloodworth said. “Chops was busy from about 11:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. and our bar sold more than I thought it ever would have been capable of.”

Business was heavy across the street as well. Amici Italian Café had set a goal of earning more than last year’s sales at the old Sweetwater Festival.

“Every year has gone up in sales almost $1,000 so our goal was to be $1,000 over last year’s sales,” Amici bar manager Nick Hittler said. “We hit that margin too.”

The increase in business seems to stem purely from the increased traffic through downtown. Neither Chops nor Amici offered any extra specials apart from their usual deals.

“The point of the specials is to get people in the door,” said Bloodworth. “We didn’t have any problem with that, so any specials would have just cut our profits.”

Some of the statistical information about this year’s festival is already known. For example, there were a record number of volunteers (who managed to eat 31 dozen donuts). Also, all of the Milledgeville hotels were completely booked during Deep Roots, GCSU’s parents’ day and GMC’s alumni weekend. Feedback from the featured vendors also gave positive feedback about the experience and the sales that Deep Roots attendees generated.

Milledgeville Mainstreet is conducting a merchant survey to quantify how much business was generated in the shops and restaurants during Deep Roots, according to Holder. When finalized, the information will complete the understanding of the positive effects of Deep Roots on Milledgeville’s economy.

“I was ecstatic about how the festival turned out,” Holder said. “Given the economic situation, I was very happy with the turnout.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 30 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry