Reggae Festival Puts $22 Million Into St Pete’s Economy • St Pete Catalyst

The Reggae Rise Up music festival pumped $22 million into St. Pete’s economy last October, according to a report from an independent research firm.

The Downtown Saint Petersburg Partnership, in conjunction with festival organizers, has hired Tampa-based company Mischem to survey visitors for the three-day Fenoy Park Festival. The 2021 Reggae Rise-Up competition attracted 15,000 people per day, most of whom stayed at local hotels, motels, and B&Bs.

That’s all good news, because the seventh Reggae Rise Up race kicks off Friday at the gated Bayfront site. They are almost sold out, although certain categories of tickets remain (click here).

(It’s not our “seventh annual,” as Covid has postponed and rescheduled the event multiple times.)

Jason Mattis, CEO of Downtown Partnership, said the multi-band festival “fits in perfectly with downtown St. Pete – the vibrancy and energy, and perfectly with what St. Pete is all about.”

“It makes sense in terms of strengthening our culture. Strengthening our sense of place and our values. And also stimulating our economy. And economics is something we haven’t always made public or haven’t been clear about in the past.”

Mashsim reported that 2021 participants came from every US state, as well as Canada, Germany, Russia, Japan, Croatia, Switzerland, Antigua, Angola, France, Aruba, Albania, Peru, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Italy, the Bahamas and the United States. Countries. kingdom.

Each year, Utah-based Reggae Rise Up travels between four different US cities. Festival co-founder Brian Burrison says the St Petersburg event is always the best.

“There’s a certain kind of magic going on here,” he explained. And its waters mixed with grass and sand … and the background of the city. And the whole community is behind us when we appear. And we’re here quite a bit, so it’s like a second home, so to speak.”

Distribution of expenses in a detailed report:

immediate effect: $18923, $310.56 in direct economic output. Factors directly injected into the economy through visitor spending on tickets, hotels, restaurants, and vendor purchases. In addition, it includes expenses incurred by on-site event staff to place in the event.

Indirect effect: $2,425,149.44 in indirect economic output. Income generated from event expenses eg vendors who purchase materials/raw materials from other local businesses so that they can sell the finished goods at the event.

Induced effect: $628,053.04 in induced economic output. Domestic spending (at the household level) is enabled by wages earned or expenses for attendees during the event.

“Sometimes you do an event and only the money gets going in the community,” Mattis said. “The exciting thing about this event is that a lot of people came from outside St. Pete. So the expenses are new money coming into our municipality.”

Terry Marks, Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, added: “It’s not just about the economic impact, it’s the soul of reggae. The humanity of reggae is the energy and inspiration of reggae. And everything that this music is about. So it really is a gift to our city.”