Banff basks in LIVE! with Kelly afterglow
The normally busy Balkan the Greek restaurant in Banff was exceptionally full this week with hordes of customers eager to dine where Kelly Ripa had been spotted.
“She came to our restaurant and dined with us Sunday eve- ning,” owner Stavros Karlos said of the host of the morning show LIVE! with Kelly. “After, we had a huge rush of people and that is still continuing.”
Since the American talkshow host arrived in the majestic mountain town to tape four episodes of her show, which aired Monday through Thursday, local businesses — including Balkan the Greek — have experienced a boost and garnered interest from people the world over.
And while it’s too early to determine the economic impact of her visit, the town’s mayor says the value is “immeasurable.”
“You can put a value on what the airtime was worth, but when you start looking at the attention Banff got prior to the show, when the show was taping and since it’s been on, I don’t think we can measure it anymore,” said Mayor Karen Sorensen. “There are a lot of high-profile events in Banff, but I don’t remember Banff having anything quite like this.”
When Ripa and her then co-host Regis Philbin took the show to Prince Edward Island in 2010, the province received approximately $22 million in free publicity.
Bruce Okabe, president and CEO of Travel Alberta, estimates Alberta will be expecting at least that much of an economic boost.
“We are going to be doing an economic impact assessment very shortly to get some formality around the numbers,” Okabe said. “We think the benefits and economic spinoff are going to be immediate. She’s got that kind of following.”
It cost about $1.5 million for the province to bring the show to Banff, though much of those cost was offset by partners such as Air Canada and Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Already it’s evident the show buoyed businesses in Banff and region and was a source of jobs for local residents working on the show, Okabe said.
Interest in the province also jumped, with the Travel Alberta website experiencing a 166 per cent jump in traffic since the shows aired, mainly from people in the U.S. and other parts of Canada.
“It’s been absolutely crazy,” Okabe said.
Business at Balkan the Greek has been just that and owner Karlos isn’t complaining. After Ripa’s surprise visit, Balkan’s website saw four times more traffic than its record day, he said.
A photo of the mayor with Ripa, her husband and sometime co-host Mark Consuelos, actor Johnny Galecki — who was one of Ripa’s guests this week — and Galecki’s actor girlfriend Kelli Garner also started making the rounds on social media, yielding more followers on the restaurant’s Twitter and Facebook sites.
“She did such a fantastic job coming in and promoting Alberta as a wonderful destination,” Karlos said. “We felt like we were doing our part to be very good hosts.”
Francis Hopkins was also happy to hear his restaurant, the Grizzly House, get a shout-out from Ripa and her guest, American Pie actor Jason Biggs, while they discussed “the world famous fondue restaurant.”
“It’s pretty encouraging to have millions of viewers hear our name,” said Hopkins. “Definitely people are talking about it on social media platforms and about Banff and Lake Louise.”
Sorensen was pleased to see that the show was very “Banff-centric” with scenes of Ripa skiing, Consuelos dogsledding, as well as ample footage of the national park’s breathtaking, snowy mountainscapes.
Ripa’s visit has not only been a boon for Banff.
Tourism Calgary president and CEO Randy Williams said he was pleased to see the host proudly donning the white hat she received as a welcome, as have, no doubt, her millions of viewers.
“She had it on her desk on the taping of the first show and she talked about Calgary,” he said.
With talks of Ripa interested in returning to Alberta to take in the Calgary Stampede with her husband and children, the economic impact on Alberta could be even bigger.
“Obviously, she has a following and fan base, and if she were coming here for the Stampede, they would obviously want to come, as well, and possibly change plans to come just to catch a glimpse of her,” Williams said.
“I think that would just add extra publicity and give extra reason for people to attend the centennial of the Calgary Stampede,” Okabe said. “She’s more than welcome anytime. She’s a white hat recipient, she’s an official Albertan now. She’s part of family.”
Calgary Stampede officials have heard Ripa’s interest in attending the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth and plan to send her an invitation to the centennial event, said spokeswoman Jennifer Booth.
“Hopefully she accepts and it’ll be very exciting if she does,” Booth said. “We’d love to have her here with her family.”