After Fest 11 rocked Gainesville last weekend, many business owners close to the action downtown said the punk-rock festival compensated for the mass migration to Jacksonville for the Florida-Georgia game.
Katie Simmons, an employee at Leonardo’s By The Slice, said the pizzeria was “as busy as a home game — just a different fan base.”
Throughout the festival, she said lines often spilled out of the pizzeria’s doors onto the sidewalk and stretched to the Kangaroo gas station next door.
Andrew Stringfield, bartender at Lillian’s Music Store, said sales remained average because Fest attendees offset those who left town for the game.
Although the establishment wasn’t a Fest venue, Stringfield said, he still enjoyed a busy weekend with diverse patrons. He said customers with far-away accents weaved in and out of the store throughout the weekend, many of whom traveled from Europe to attend.
Mike Salay, owner of Anthem Tattoo Parlor, said he wasn’t surprised by the amount of customers he received during the weekend. But this year, he said, many souvenir-tattoo seekers seemed to wait until the end of the festival to get inked.
“A lot of people realized they didn’t want to have a fresh tattoo being around sweaty bars,” he said.
Salay’s wife, Samantha Salay, said many Fest participants had to be put on wait lists to get tattoos.
She said she especially recalled a newly married couple coming in to get “Stress Face” bride and groom tattoos. She said they had tied the knot earlier at the Holiday Inn.
Adam Wood, manager at Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub, said the venue hosted 25 to 30 shows during the weekend, and the volume of business “met expectations.”
He said he thought more people were in town for Fest 11 than previous years and had to schedule three to four extra bouncers because of the crowd.
“It’s getting bigger every year,” Wood said. “It’s like St. Patrick’s Day but all weekend long.”
