Forest Festival Leaves Its Mark on Economy
At Least 50,000 Visited For 72nd MSFFSTAFF REPORT
It's been a week since the 72nd Mountain State Forest Festival's closing ceremonies. The street sweepers have cleared the litter from the parade route and downtown is back to business as usual. But did the MSFF have the same number of visitors as previous years despite a failing economy?
The MSFF has not completed its official estimate of festival visitors, but 2008 Director General Lisa Wamsley said Elkins likely hosted a minimum of 50,000 to 55,000 guests from Oct. 2 through Oct. 5. Wamsley said the weather likely played a huge factor in the turnout.
Comparing 2008 to 2007, Wamsley said more people stayed for the entire coronation of Queen Silvia, and Saturday's Lumberjack Competition had more spectators than the last several years.
Overall, Wamsley deemed the 2008 festival a success, and when the numbers are final, she says they'll likely reflect the statistics published in a 2006 MSFF Economic Impact Study. An estimated 150,000 people participated in the weeklong festival events in 2006, according to the study.
Brenda Pritt, executive director of the Randolph County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she and her co-workers assisted at least 60 people per day from Oct. 1-4. Just days prior to the Forest Festival, she said the CVB saw approximately 30 people each day.
"The weather does the trick," Pritt said.
Last year, the CVB assisted approximately half that number, Pritt said. However, the CVB's new location probably helped boost CVB visitor numbers, several of whom stopped by to see the new, more visible location.
When the Forest Festival comes to town, so do the people, and Pritt said she assists visitors in finding hotel rooms and directs them to the downtown area for crafts and other shows.
Booked solid, vacancies at many of the hotels in Festival City were scarce during the entire celebration. Super 8 Manager Barb Storey said the hotel is always sold out the entire week of the MSFF.
"I'm already sold out for next year," Storey said. "Every year we sell out for the festival. It's not the biggest week of the year, though. I would have to say the Fourth of July car show is probably the biggest. The lodging industry is where you need to be."
Other hotels in Elkins only saw an increase during the weekend of the festival. Holiday Inn Express General Manager Jill Jeffries said being located in the heart of the festival actually had a negative impact on business.
"The festival actually hurt our business," Jeffries said. "A lot of our regular customers chose to stay out of town. So, we came out about even after all of it. Being downtown in the middle of it is not always the best thing. Many of my regular business people didn't want to stay. I had at least 14 regular guests stay out of town."
This year, Pritt said she and her staff searched for places to stay in Tucker, Pocahontas and Upshur counties because hotel rooms in Randolph were booked.
The Colonial Motel in Buckhannon sees an increase in the number of guests during the week of the Forest Festival.
"Our numbers were up greatly," said Patty Cutright, co-owner of the Colonial Motel. "It's that way every year. A lot of the concession people and vendors stay here at night, not to mention the people who stay here who come to the area to ride the train in Elkins."
Hotels in Barbour County also benefited from the increase in visitors. Kevin Keene, general manager of Budget Inn in Philippi, said the hotel saw about a 25 percent increase in business. He said the hotels in Elkins have been very helpful with finding customers rooms and sending them to his hotel when they are full.
"We got a good bit of people staying during the Forest Festival," Keene said. "It's a good time to travel because of fall. Tourism has been decent for the way the economy is and everything."
Keene said the best time of year for the hotel is during Alderson-Broaddus College's graduation and the Barbour County Fair.
Guests of the packed hotels helped account for approximately 700 people signing the guest book at the Railroad Depot Welcome Center, according to Ed Griesel, president of the Depot Welcome Center. Those 700 people hailed from 15 different states and one foreign country.
"It's generally a madhouse," Griesel said of the Forest Festival at the Depot. Griesel presumed many of guests at the depot were in town to ride the train. Approximately 17 busses - which was more than in 2007 - brought tour groups to Elkins during the festival, he said.
Many train riders were surprised and likely disgruntled to find a festival on the streets, Griesel said. The carnival blocked the road, he said, so buses could not drop tourists off in front of the depot.
According to Griesel, train groups probably didn't have the time to patronize the festival because of itineraries that were already scheduled.
No matter how many people made their way to town for the festival, the traffic situation was better this year than prior years, according to Elkins Police Capt. J.E. Batdorf.
"In my opinion, for the parades, there were more people than normal in the area," Batdorf said. "There were less people at the carnival in the evening."
Batdorf said fewer people during the carnival kept traffic flowing better than in previous years. And because there weren't as many people, there were fewer arrests this year, he said.
"We had 10 to 12 arrests during the week this year. We usually make 30 to 40 arrests during the festival," Batdorf said. "I attribute that to lighter crowds at night. The crowd downtown was sparse in the evenings."
But Elkins resident Bob Malcolm said he saw the most people at the MSFF than he has in a long time.
"This is one of the biggest crowds I can remember," Malcolm said. "There was definitely a bigger crowd in 1935 when President Franklin Roosevelt was here."
Malcolm said he saw a lot of people he recognized but he couldn't remember a lot of their names.
"I saw some people I met from when I traveled playing music," Malcolm said. "I recognized and talked to some of them, but I am bad with names."
Parents of a festival princess were the friends Beverly Bennett said she hadn't seen in a long time. "We didn't see too many other people," Bennett said. "We walked around downtown and said 'hi' to the people from town, though."
Sarah Knicely of Elkins saw people she recognized from high school who now live in Fairmont, Morgantown and other areas outside of Randolph County. Although she didn't have a chance to go out and socialize, she said it seemed like fewer people made the trip to Elkins this year. Knicely reasoned that people weren't able to take days off from their jobs.
Knicely may not have seen many people with whom she graduated, but the Elkins High School Alumni Association gathering at the Old Brick Playhouse on Oct. 3 had several new visitors. More than 350 alumni were recorded in the association's guest book.
According to association member Martha Roy, the organization sees many of the same alumni each year, but there were several new people this year.
