Country music fans flocked to Tiger Stadium on Memorial Day weekend to be entertained by their favorite musicians for the third straight year, but the 75,000 attendees did more than revive Death Valley during the offseason.
Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge, said the festival provides a much-needed boost to both Baton Rouge’s and the University’s economic situations.
“By visiting Baton Rouge, people are in turn contributing to local business and the city,” Arrigo said. “Tax receipts are the most direct way Baton Rouge realizes the effects of Bayou Country Superfest. This can be realized through hotels, grocery stores, restaurants and just about any business in Baton Rouge.”
The Lod Cook Hotel received bookings almost immediately after the third-annual lineup was announced, according to general manager Thom Fronek.
“Bayou Country Superfest was a very profitable weekend for us,” he said. “We had lots of people from out of state. Every year, as soon as the lineup is announced, we receive phone calls for room bookings.”
Several businesses extended operating hours during Bayou Country Superfest to accommodate visitors.
Robert Coffee, Mellow Mushroom employee, said in the previous two years of the festival, numerous people visited the restaurant afterward.
“We usually are only open until 2 a.m., but for the festival we stayed open for one extra hour,” Coffee said.
Local businesses weren’t the only entities benefiting financially. LSU will also receive a significant sum of money, according to Neal Lamonica, director of fiscal operations for LSU Athletics.
The University will take in more than $525,000 from ticket sales alone based on this year’s attendance numbers.
Lamonica said the University will also receive $635,000 from Festival Productions for services related to the event. This number includes reimbursing LSU for the installation of a new playing field in Tiger Stadium after the concert.
Although actual figures have not been finalized, the University will receive more than $1.16 million directly from Festival Productions.
After the festival’s inception, there were doubts if Baton Rouge would continue to host Bayou Country Superfest.
Attendance numbers declined slightly from 85,000 the first year to approximately 75,000 in the following two years, according to Matthew Goldman of Festival Productions. In 2010, the East Baton Rouge Metro Council stripped the mayor-president’s budget of $300,000 to sponsor the festival.
Mayor-President Kip Holden said the festival is vital to the Baton Rouge economy because it brings in thousands of visitors every year. He told the story of an Oklahoma couple who contacted him about their festival experience.
“He wrote us a letter saying, ‘My wife and I can’t afford much, but we read about the Bayou Country Superfest,'” Holden said. “‘I said to myself and my wife, I think we can afford this.’ Then he sent a letter back to us afterward. ‘As long as you have the Bayou Country Superfest in Baton Rouge, me and my family will be there every year.'”
Legislators and city officials are doing their best to keep the festival in the Red Stick.
Louisiana Senate Bill 475, sponsored by Senator Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, “provides for performance-based tax rebates for musical or other entertainment events held in public facilities under certain conditions.”
The bill was adopted in senate concurrence on June 1.
“We are committed to making this stay in Baton Rouge for years to come,” said Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne. “Memorial Day weekend in Baton Rouge now has an identity.”
There’s no need to worry about the festival’s location for next year. The current agreement between the University’s athletic department and Festival Productions doesn’t expire until Dec. 31, 2013.
 
____ Contact Joshua Bergeron at [email protected]