Augusta sees $740K economic impact from events in February

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – March is just around the corner, but the city of Augusta is taking time to celebrate hundreds of thousands of dollars brought in through February through events like the Augusta half marathon, conferences, and more.

February was a busy month for Augusta, from conferences to sporting events more than 4000 people visited the CSRA, bringing an economic impact of over $740,000 to the city.

Local businesses also felt the love from visitors and sales and hope it continues into spring; hoping this early rush becomes their new normal.

“We definitely saw an uptick. I mean, there’s all the events that have been happening downtown, new bars that have been opening downtown, restaurants all coming together. I think people starting to realize that downtown’s place to be so February was great. If you compare it to last year. It’s tremendous. Yeah, big difference between last year and this year,” said Manny Hatzis, owner of Manny’s Sports off Broad.

Manny’s Sports off Broad has seen more people walk in their doors, especially from out of town.

“Comparing numbers, we don’t really see a big tick until like maybe March and then you get this of course we get our masters uptick. But really this early is kind of unique. So it’s nice to see that,” he said.

They are hoping to stay busy, helping not only their business but also Augusta grow.

“I also think that all the events that we’ve had, and all those little shows that we’ve had really helped a lot. And I look forward to more of those with the new James Brown Arena in the future,” said Hatzis.

And when events come to town, they’re ready. Some events, like the Augusta Half Marathon do what they can to support local businesses.

“We’ve been really conscientious about using more local businesses in our race. So for example, the metal design and the t shirt design, it’s from a local artist, Jason Craig. And we’ve gotten the year from a local, you know, local business here, and we’ve done the screen printing from a local business,” said Michelle Pippin, Augusta Sports Council CEO.

Allowing more money to go right back into the city, bringing more people back to the CSRA.

“These new restaurants that have opened up and all these other clubs that have opened up, people can now make it a destination. Downtown can be a destination and that’s a great thing. That’s what it was in the old days. I think it’ll start doing that again,” Hatzis said.

With Masters coming up, local businesses hope this wave continues into March and April.

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