This weekend showed once again just how easy it would be to have music play a vital role in Asbury Park's economy. Over 170 bands and artists played throughout the town in around 18 different venues. Cookman Avenue was one of the biggest winners with places like Twisted Tree Cafe, America's Cup and Jake & Lucy's having good to great crowds nearly the entire time. Last year the goal was simply to have the festival take place, this year I think people began embracing the festival from the very beginning. There was a great vibe throughout town. Even with the construction and lack of parking spots in some areas, people came. Even with hours of rain on Saturday, people came and hopped from venue to venue. And even with the lack of hotel rooms available, people came and found places to stay.
It's a shame that there are still many people who don't want Asbury to capitalize on its musical heritage. Events like the Wave Gathering Festival prove that Asbury's music scene is still as vibrant as it ever was and can bring people to town. Imagine if everyone who came for the three days spent like $20 per day... It may not seem like much, but it would start adding up and this was only the 2nd year of the festival. Could this kind of festival ever be as big as a South by Southwest? Probably not because we're not located in a pure city with the amount of hotel rooms and venues to match that; however, it could become something bigger and bigger that is marketed to the roughly 25 million people within a 3 hour drive of Asbury Park. Tie in the hotels in Tinton Falls and surrounding areas with shuttles to Asbury and all of a sudden you do have something that brings in very significant revenue numbers. This festival was done (as with nearly everything in Asbury) on a rather limited marketing budget and yet the people came. Imagine what could be done with the town with a serious music tourism plan. Great things could be done. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/