Central Point, Ore. — While thousands of people are enjoying the Country Crossings Music Festival, one Central Point business’s profits are actually taking a hit.
“It’s been very slow,” Don Drager of Mary’s BBQ Place said. “We thought it would bring people into town, and Central Point, but I think with the way the general admission parking is out in White City, and being shuttled in, people just aren’t leaving the venue.”
Kainalu Cuico is up from Long Beach, California with his sister and friends for the festival this weekend. They decided to venture out and try a local restaurant.
“Mary’s barbecue is good,” Cuico said. “We were just looking up stuff online and it had a lot of good reviews on Yelp.”
Drager noted that’s often how people find the restaurant.
“That’s how it happens, when we talked about our business, it’s a lot of people on Yelp, they’re yelping and then that’s how they find us, the people that are traveling up and down I5,” Drager said.
But even with an influx of 20,000 people or more each day of the festival, Drager said the group is only their second customers from the festival since it started Thursday.
“Generally on a Friday, it’s very steady,” Drager said. “Our lunches are very busy, our dinners are very steady, so there’s people in and out the door all day long.”
While it doesn’t appear to be the norm, Cuico and his group say they wanted to try something new, and they’re grateful they ventured into downtown Central Point.
“We wanted to like, taste local foods, and go see local spots, whether it be by the river, or whatever it is, just because we’re only going to be in town for a little while,” Cuico said.
In an interview last year, Jackson County Commissioner Rick Dyer speculated the festival would have a significant economic impact. Those final numbers won’t be in until well after the event.
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