Positive economic signs follow arts festival
The 2018 Cotton District Arts Festival brought people from all across the state and beyond to Starkville for a day of art, food and other revelry on April 21.
The festival has also surpassed the 2017 event in revenue. According to the Starkville Area Arts Council, vendor revenue has been reported at more than $185,000, with more than $13,000 in tax revenue for the community. However, the figure could increase, as not all vendors have yet reported their earnings. The SAAC also plans to field surveys for both vendors and the community at large with the goal of improving the festival in future years.
SAAC Executive Director John Bateman said the figure could change as the remaining vendors report their earnings.
“We're going to do a survey to try to capture this information to really find the economic impact beyond art sales,” Bateman said.
Bateman also said at least two vendors completely sold out of their wares, and almost 40 percent of artisan vendors reported gross sales in excess of $1,000. Some vendors reported sales as high as $16,000.
“Our artisan gross sales for art vendors were reported at $148,000, and gross sales for food vendors amounted to $36,000,” Bateman said. “Food vendors were also subject to a nine percent sales tax.”
Bateman said none of the funds came through SAAC. However, they were still required to report earnings to the Mississippi Department of Revenue.
“Gross sales will exceed last year's,” Bateman said.
Bateman also said SAAC had received positive feedback from the community for the 2018 festival.
“We're really pleased,” Bateman said. “We've gotten a lot of good feedback about the diversity of what we have. It seems like people like a mixture of the crafts and the fine art. People also like the fact that every vendor sells something different, and that's something that we work really hard to do.”
Greater Starkville Development Partnership Director of Tourism Jennifer Prather said although the Partnership did not have numbers for the festival directly, hotels in town were at capacity during the weekend.
“There was a noticeable crowd in town that weekend, and our hotels and restaurants were at capacity the whole weekend,” Prather said.
Prather said part of the influx of people was related to both the festival and several MSU athletic events going on the same weekend.
“Anytime we can partner two strong events like Super Bulldog Weekend and the arts festival together, it makes a really good economic impact on the city,” Prather said.
She said the multiple events give people an incentive to come to Starkville, and could even encourage people to see Starkville as a destination to return to.
“Obviously, there's a return economically through the return of sales tax and food and beverage tax from people staying in the hotels and eating in the restaurants, but even more so, it's an opportunity for people to have a really unique experience in the community while they're here, whether that be for athletics specifically or the arts festival, and we're able to then retain those visitors because they plan other trips in the future to come back.”