Country Explosion festival goers did leave some of their money at Tooele County businesses, according to local business owners.
But more money in the coffers of business owners, which translates into more taxes for Tooele County, wasn’t the only objective in bringing Country Explosion here, according to Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne.
“I talked to many business owners, and especially those in the north end of Tooele City reported an increase in business during Country Explosion,” he said.
Several local business owners back up Milne’s statement.
Spiros Makris, owner of Jim’s Restaurant, reported a 20 percent increase in sales over a typical weekend.
Denny’s of Tooele owner Chad Fullmer also reported an increase in customers that he attributed to Country Explosion.
“Business picked up 25 percent during Country Explosion,” Fullmer said. “It ranks among my top-five business weeks of the year. We even did better than the same week last year when Country Explosion was in town.”
Macey’s Food and Drug experienced a slight increase in sales. It was typical of most weekends when there is a major event in town, according to Manager Jeff Rice.
“We stocked up ahead of time with ice and water to be prepared,” he said. “We also sold a lot of Red Bull and dry ice.”
Holiday Oil reported that its business was 15 percent up compared to July 4 sales, which is typically one of its busiest weekends and 30 percent up over a normal weekend.
Local hotels were booked full and had to turn away guests, according to Ginny Rhea, manager of the Best Western Inn Tooele.
Last weekend was a busy one in Tooele County with Country Explosion, a national finals kart race at Miller Motorsports Park, and the arrival of out of town Babe Ruth baseball teams for a tournament.
“It’s difficult to tell how much of my increase was due to just Country Explosion,” Makris said, who is also a former member of the Tooele County Tourism Advisory Board.
Sales figures by sector for the month of July will not be available from the Utah Tax Commission until October, according to a tax commission spokesperson.
The boost in retail sales was one reason Tooele County gave the organizers of Country Explosion $400,000 of the county’s tourism tax money. The money was used to advertise Country Explosion to country music fans in Utah and in eight nearby states.
Tourism taxes come from two sources: a 1 percent tax on restaurant food sales and a 3.5 percent tax on lodging in hotels, motels and other temporary accommodations in the county.
The use of tourism taxes are regulated by state legislation. Their expenditure is generally limited to promoting recreation, tourism, film production, conventions, and the construction and operation of tourism related facilities, including convention rooms and halls, information centers, museums, and sports and recreation facilities.
In order to make back the $400,000 spent on Country Explosion, Tooele County would need to see a 54 percent increase in tourism taxes, or $24.6 million more in gross restaurant sales, and $4.4 million more in gross hotel and motel income than the county saw in 2012.
While the intent was to increase business in the county, recovering the entire $400,000 was never the goal, according to Milne.
“We did not intend to recover the entire $400,000,” Milne said. “Especially not in the first year.”
There were other goals in mind that Milne believes were accomplished by Country Explosion in 2014.
“We’ve shown that we can handle an event of this size at Deseret Peak,” he said. “There were a few organizational problems that can be worked out, but the facilities and the attendance show that the right event with the right marketing will draw people to Deseret Peak.”
Milne said he dreams of eventually attracting three or four Country Explosion-size events to Deseret Peak each year.
Country Explosion is also on track to become an annual event in Tooele County, according to Milne.
“Both the county and Country Explosion are interested in negotiating a multi-year contract,” he said. “Hopefully Country Explosion can become what the Shakespeare Festival is to Cedar City or Peach Days to Brigham City or Swiss Days to Midway.”
Country Explosion also drew a lot of people from the Wasatch Front out to Tooele County and hopefully they learned that Tooele isn’t that far away, Milne said.
“We don’t have a Red Rock, an Arches, or a Green River,” he said. “But we do have over 200 miles of trails. Maybe they will think of us instead of Spanish Fork Canyon the next time they want to ride their ATVs.”