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Mayor Lurie touts music festivals as an economic, tourist engine for San Francisco
The month of music festivals is drawing to a close, but the millions of dollars that followed the music won't soon be forgotten.
SAN FRANCISCO - The Sunset District's month of music festivals is drawing to a close, but the millions of dollars that followed the music won't soon be forgotten.
Sunday marks the end of a series of concerts that started with Dead & Company, followed by the Outside Lands Music Festival, then a Zach Bryan performance. The summer concert series ended with a Sunday night performance by Diana Ross, as part of the Stern Grove Festival.
Mayor Daniel Lurie took to Instagram earlier this month to celebrate the good the series of concerts has done for the city.
"It's the last night, seven shows, 15 nights, and $150 million of economic impact to our city," Lurie said in the Instagram video. "It's been an incredible boon for our city. I'm really proud of our city coming together, it's been huge."
Big draws
By the numbers:
The run of shows started with Dead & Company — a group that includes original members of San Francisco's iconic sixties jam band The Grateful Dead — drawing in 180,000 attendees. The following weekend saw 225,000 people descend on Golden Gate Park for Outside Lands. While Zach Bryan drew 55,000 the weekend after that.
Lurie said he plans to continue to lean into the arts as a driver for the city's economic recovery. The city has seen a drop in international tourism recently, but the series of concerts has successfully drawn people to the region. Lurie said 60% of the attendees for Zach Bryan's performance live within 50 miles of San Francisco.
Dollars and cents
Big picture view:
The Hotel Council of San Francisco has been seeing the same trend, and agrees that doubling down on domestic travel with big events will increase the city's tax revenue.
"The dead heads were incredible. Many of the hotels were sold out, or close to it," Alex Bastian, the president and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco said.
Lurie, in his Instagram video, said hotel room occupancy the weekend of the Dead and Company performance hit 91%.
His strategy seems to be working.
"I live downtown, so I definitely see revival," Fernando Ocana said. "There is always live music, it's definitely coming back."
Diana Ross' performance at Stern Grove marks the end of the August Concerts, but, in contrast to Outside Lands, Stern Grove is actually a series of concerts that have kicked off in mid-June.
Stern Grove is the oldest non-profit music festival in the country, and has been bringing free music to San Francisco for 88 years.
Even when the music is free, the city reaps the economic rewards.
"We're going to do the concert, then we'll probably go out to dinner afterwards, go downtown," Santa Cruz resident Annette Cavalier said.