Businesses, hotels say they expected more customers during RiverBeat Festival

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – The first week of May is usually highly anticipated by business owners and hotels in Memphis. This week marks the beginning of festivals, contests, and for decades it marked the start of the Beale Street Music Festival.

This year the RiverBeat Festival set up its Inaugural music festival in Tom Lee Park instead.

After a couple hours-long rain delay, the gates opened for the third and final day of the festival.

Festival organizers said they saw around 10,000 to 15,000 people daily on days one and two of the festival.

A manager of a new downtown business said he saw the people, but it didn’t impact them as much as he hoped.

“The traffic flow was great outside, but as far as coming in and as far as some of the businesses it was kind of slow,” said Patrick Gatewood, manager of DaVinci Restaurant and Lounge.

Action News Five called several hotels in downtown Memphis. Some said they had fewer people staying than usual during the first weekend in May. Others said it was about the same as they saw during the Beale Street Music Festival in 2023.

Paige Crapps said that although she is from out of town, she didn’t need a hotel because she only attended the festival for one day.

“It’s just my first day. We just came for the day and I caught SG Goodman and she was really good,” said Crapps.

With a new festival in Memphis, I asked festivalgoers how they think this first RiverBeat Festival went.

“It looks good down here. It looks beautiful, and it kind of gives me California, Bayfield. You know they got the Ferris Wheel down there and everything is just pretty. It’s beautiful,” said one festival goer.

“All of the art installations are really nice. I really like that a lot,” added Crapps.

Businesses are hoping as the festival grows business does as well.

“I can tell a big difference as far as financial, a lot of people as far as businesses didn’t really get impacted,” said Gatewood.

According to the 2023 Memphis in May International Festival Annual Report the Beale Street Music Festival brought in just over 37,000 people in 2023. The report notes that is the lowest attendance for the festival in 30 years.

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