The Squamish Valley Music Festival (SVMF) weekend not only broke records in crowd turnout, but also in shopper foot traffic.
鈥淚t was crazy busy,鈥� Shukuko Abe said on Monday, Aug. 11. 鈥淭he last two days we hit record [sales].鈥�
The owner of the Naked Lunch restaurant saw a huge spike in consumers over the four-day event. Squamish Elementary School鈥檚 field, which is less than a kilometre away from the caf茅 at Chieftain Centre, became a tent city filled with hungry campers.听
Stores along Cleveland Avenue also felt the influx. Wild and Heart saw a spike in walk-in visits, as well as online traffic, the clothing store鈥檚 co-owner Sarah Johnson said.听
鈥淎 lot of people follow us on social media and came to the event and wanted to check us out,鈥� she said.听
The festival-goers fit the shop鈥檚 target market. Johnson hopes that the in-store visits from people out of town will translate into more online consumers.
鈥淲e had a lot of international customers,鈥� she said.听
Sales throughout Aug. 7 to Aug. 10, almost doubled that of The Ledge Cafe鈥檚 biggest day, Nick Koole said.听
However, the weekend didn鈥檛 feel any busier than the previous year鈥檚 festival, he said.听
鈥淲e were pretty well prepared for it,鈥� he acknowledged.听
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The event went really well, Squamish Business Improvement Association executive director Christine Bennett said. The organization ran the second annual On the Street event in conjunction with the music festival. A portion of Cleveland Avenue was closed down and music and entertainment packed the block to entice festival ticket holders to explore Squamish before heading to the concerts, which started at 1 p.m.
鈥淚t was a huge success,鈥� Bennett said.听
In 2013, the SVMF generated $18.7 million worth of economic activity for the province and pumped $9.9 million into Squamish鈥檚 economy, stated organizers.听
