CENTRAL POINT, Ore.– With thousands of people flooding the valley to see their favorite artists at Country Crossings local businesses are seeing a boost to their bottom line.
“Signature events really are becoming powerful tools,” said Brad Hicks, CEO of The Chamber of Medford and Jackson County.
The country music stars may get the limelight but it’s local businesses reaping the rewards.
“Between 20 and 30,000 people a day, many of whom are coming outside of our community,” said Hicks. “That creates new spending.”
From food and drinks to ride shares and overnight stays, even clothing stores are getting a piece of the action.
“They’re eating in restaurants when they wouldn’t normally be. They’re staying in hotels when they wouldn’t normally be. They’re buying boots and cowboy hats from what I’ve been told”
Roxy Ann Winery owner Chad Day says he’s met people from across the West Coast who came for the festival.
“I mean a lot of people from Portland and what not,” he said. “I know people from the Bay Area and LA have come here for this event.”
Most of them end up exploring the valley during their time here as well. Day says their tasting room has been busier than normal since Country Crossings started.
“We’ve seen uptick in traffic in the mornings,” he said. “People looking for something to do between the time they get up and go to the concert and maybe in the afternoon.”
Hicks says he’s happy to see downtown Medford get some more foot traffic as well.
“It’s good to see people out and about and I’d like to think some of that is related to the events that are taking place with Country Crossings,” he said.
As for how much this is all bringing in? The numbers aren’t in quite yet but The Chamber has some estimates.
“When you think about the average daily spending of a visitor and you think about the approximate numbers of people that are going through the turn stiles of Country Crossings on a daily basis,” said Hicks. “Over the multi-day event, it’s in the millions and millions of dollars.”
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