The 21st annual Double Decker Arts and Music Festival had record attendance this year.
Visit Oxford Double Decker Coordinator Lee Ann Stubbs said this year was the largest crowd drawn yet. The crowd grew to approximately 65,000 people with roughly 150 art vendors.
“The crowd started early before the art vendors even set up,” Stubbs said. “There were more people than I’ve ever seen in the past.”
(Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
People walking around the Square during the Double Decker Festival on Saturday.
Stubbs said the great weather combined with Ole Miss Baseball assisted in producing a larger Double Decker crowd in comparison to previous years.
“We think baseball being in town had a great impact on the crowd as well, because people can go to the game and then come back,” Stubbs said. “That definitely had a big impact on the crowd this year.”
Mary Allen Hedges, director of Visit Oxford, said she was extremely pleased with the turnout because it was consistent throughout the day. The revamped children’s area, talented art vendors and great musical entertainment equally played a part in the success of the 2016 festival, Hedges said.
“Our children’s area had record crowds, with new rides and games, and our art vendors had really great days,” Hedges said. “When Kingfish played in the middle of the day, I had never seen a crowd like that; they were lined all the way to the courthouse.”
The economic contribution from the weekend was tremendous for Oxford, according to Hedges.
The 2016 budget for the arts and music festival totaled $215,500. The majority of the budget was allotted to musical acts, which totaled $71,000.
Stubbs said the number of sponsorships for this year’s festival totaled $238,200, in addition to in-kind donations.
“In previous years, we haven’t made much profit. We usually just break even,” Stubbs said. “We really just do the festival for the city.”
Businesses on the Square felt the heat from the Double Decker crowd as well.
Restaurants on the Square were filled with festival goers. The wait time for most restaurants during the weekend averaged anywhere from one to two hours.
Jason Ross, manager of Bouré, said the restaurant served an estimated 1,150 people on Saturday alone.
“It’s definitely one of our busiest weekends. It was probably busier than a football weekend,” Ross said. “It is our most profitable weekend.”
Catherine Abadie, a hostess at City Grocery, said the restaurant reached capacity on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“All of the reservations at all of our tables were booked,” Abadie said. “We served on average about 400 people each day during the weekend.”
Due to the high influx of tourists, the majority of hotels in Oxford reported zero vacancies throughout Double Decker weekend.
Gaye Buker, general manager at The Inn at Ole Miss, said all of their 133 available rooms were booked during the weekend, and roughly 350 individuals stayed at the Inn during the festival.
Mike Hoover, general manager at Graduate Hotel, said the hotel experienced a large percentage in growth during the festival when compared to an average weekend.
“We were able to capture about 20 percent more revenue from a hotel perspective,” Hoover said. “We saw about 2.5 people per room, which was about 340 in the hotel.”
Hoover said the hotel’s restaurant performed well throughout the weekend as well, bringing in roughly 30 percent more revenue than normal.
“We were completely sold out for the weekend,” Hoover said. “Double Decker was a great, profitable weekend for us.”
