Lyons economy anyone??

[TheEleven]

Lyons local of three years here. Having attended both Rocky Grass, Folks Fest and even Kinfolk over the past few years I've watched all these people come to my kewl town year after year in masses. I am always surprised by how few of the concert goers attending the festival do jot wander from the grounds and into downtown to eat and drink at our restaurants or put any money into our local economy. You would think with all the people that go to these shows one would surely see a few of our local bars such as Oskars filled with patrons after the shows for a few beverages and live music but instead I find only our same local faces of 20 people tops. Is it the that the cost for a ticket to the festival is so expensive that they are completely broke at days end or does it have more to do with sheer exhaustion after a day in the sun and wanting to get a good nights sleep in their tents and not disturb their tent neighbors coming in late? Just a locals observation.

[TheLorax27]

I think it is because the camps are filled with late night picks and that is where the survivors who aren't wiped out from all day music, sun and New Belgium end up.

As my dad lives in Lyons I too hope that people wander into town to spend money.

Enjoy Festival!

 Listening to: Steep Canyon

[mountainjam]

In the past we have gone into town to eat/drink but only ever during the day. IMO what makes these festivals is the campground scene, particularly at night. The late-night campground shenanigans are a magical happening that occur maybe a couple of times a year. I can't imagine leaving that to go sit inside a bar. I think that's why you don't see people sitting at Oskar Blues post-festival. But I would imagine the downtown businesses do see a bump during these events, it's just spread out throughout the day/weekend.

[wackyzachy]

I'll bet the Stone Cup, Barking Dog, Market, and Natural Food store do a good business throughout the weekend. A quick coffee or breakfast sandwich for the campers who don't want to make breakfast would make sense.
Waiting at OB or other table service place for food/drinks when most camps bring food supplies and/or beverages doesn't seem to make sense. Festivarians bring their own bar to the campsite, why go out and pay extra $$.

my .02 as someone who makes the epic drive from Loveland to attend.

 Listening to: music at work

[Brennen]

I've been going to the festivals here since 2005 or so, and living in or near Lyons a decent chunk of that time.  From what I can tell, yeah, there's less traffic to businesses in town than you'd initially expect for so many people coming in.  Though I'm pretty sure the coffeeshops are slammed in the mornings all week long.

On the other hand, I'm not sure this is much different from any festival with physically-isolated grounds plus on-site vending and camping.  If people want to buy food, it's right there, and a lot of it's decent quality stuff.  There's a guaranteed social scene around the campgrounds.  etc.

The festivals I've been to that really integrate the local economy are things like Airwaves in Reykjavík or South by Southwest, where venues are scattered all over town, people move around a lot, and unofficial/free performances are happening all over the place in parallel.  Totally different feel to that kind of thing though.

It'd be cool to see Planet Bluegrass coordinate some small-venue / post-main-stage stuff in town with some Main St businesses and really promote it as part of the festivals, or to have an acoustic campground stage scene like you get at Winfield emerge.  But I suspect the template is pretty well set here already, and I'd be surprised to see it change much.  (Which is maybe too bad.  It might be my imagination, but I get the feeling these events are losing some steam and vitality as the festival scene gets more saturated and more people head to stuff like Arise, or to smaller, less-discovered events with more of a grass-roots vibe.)

 Listening to: Talking Heads, _Fear of Music_

[Wharf_Rat]

Since the music is all day and I'm totally wiped out by the time the on-site music ends, it's hard to make it into town very much.  However, we do try to get gas, ice, coffee, and supplies in town whenever possible.  It's a great place and I want the local economy to benefit as much as possible.

Maybe a post-show jam (with a couple RG performers) at a local bar would be interesting for the younger folk?  However as someone already said, there's quite the jam scene going on in the campgrounds....

Can't wait to get there!!