Duncan Hines Days brings in millions in spending for South Central Kentucky

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Duncan Hines Days brought the fun and the funds, allocating $2.96 million in spending, according to a press release.

“It’s just one more, you know, one more feather in Bowling Green’s cap, as far as things that you can do and attracting people from the outside area,” Employee at Moris Jewelry Jim Sears said.

Over 17,000 people attended, coming from 18 different states, based on zip codes tracked through admissions and ticketing.

“These people were getting hotel rooms, they were paying for gas, they were paying for ticketed events, or they were going to stores or bars or restaurants or all of those things,” Downtown Development Coordinator Telia Butler said.

To support the community’s efforts Conagra Foods, which owns the Duncan Hines brand, donated 6,000 boxes of baking mixes to give to the community throughout the week.

Sears says that events such as Duncan Hines Days help bring more business to local entities.

“We might not get an initial pop that day, but two weeks later they’ll say, ‘Hey, we saw you at the Duncan Hines days, and I’ve got a ring here. Can you fix it?’ So, we kind of get an ancillary benefit from it in a lot of ways and we like being a part of it,” Sears said.

The week of Duncan Hines Day local businesses joined in on the fun, adding their own twist on the event.

“We had more downtown businesses this year participate than we did last year. Bars and restaurants offered themed Duncan Hines like cake mix or brownies or strawberry like drinks and special flavors and their desserts and things like that that were new compared to last years as well,” Butler said. “It gave more of the community the chance to embrace it and kind of make it its own.”

Any requests for events or ideas for next year’s Duncan Hines Days can be submitted by filling out a form labeled “contact us” on their website.

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