Film festival boosts downtown business
Restaurants booked with reservations
TRAVERSE CITY - Lilli and Jim Shea exemplify the boon that business owners hoped would come with the Traverse City Film Festival. The couple from Marinette, Wis., read about the film lineup in their local newspaper, quickly booked a trip on the SS Badger car ferry and reserved a room at a Traverse City bed and breakfast.
"I read about this and said 'We have to do it,'" Lilli said. "Our goal is to go back and encourage other people to do it."
The Sheas purchased fistfuls of movie tickets Friday morning and rested on a bench outside the State Theatre while pondering which eateries and shops they might frequent between shows.
Local businesses, especially those downtown, said film festival traffic provided a boost in an already-busy time of year.
"Our reservation books are jam-packed every single night," Jessica Novorolsky said Friday afternoon while greeting diners at Amical, next door to the State Theatre. "We're usually busy, but yesterday we got busy at 11:30 and didn't calm down until 3:30."
The scene at Poppycock's has been much the same, said staffer Lindsey Muller.
"Thursday, we had a wait list all night," she said. "It was like a Friday or Saturday night."
Merchants say the festival is bringing in the kind of crowds they like - the kind that spends cash while they're here.
"There's a ton of people in town, and they've got money," said Mike Nolan, owner of a tobacco shop downtown. "It's not like the Cherry Festival."
Downtown nightspots are teeming with activity before and after the shows, workers said. Dave Brownlee is a manager at the U&I Lounge on Front Street across from the State Theatre and says he's "definitely" seen an influx of business from the film festival.
"We're getting people before they go to the movies and after ... (when) the movies let out, business picks right up," he said.
The event also creates a buzz among the clientele, he said.
"The other fun thing is the rumor mill - who's in town and who people saw," Brownlee said.
North Peak Brewing Company manager Ryder Anderson said the restaurant, which typically sees a lot of tourists, has seated more locals during the festival.
Wally Green of the Green House Cafe said people waiting for a seat at Thursday's panel discussion at the City Opera House popped in and out of the long line to grab a bite.
"It's working," Green said about festival organizers' hopes that the event's success would trickle downtown.
City officials said the 500-plus space downtown parking deck was nearly full on Friday - almost 200 vehicles above normal - and the downtown's streets and sidewalks seem just as packed.
"It's just been amazing - the number of people that are down here for it," said Rob Bacigalupi, deputy director of the city's Downtown Development Authority.
Erika Korndorfer, a server at Amical, said dinner tables are abuzz with patrons eager to talk about the films they've seen.
"That's all they talk about," she said. "They were just so pumped. It's really exciting."
