CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tim Brady, the President and CEO of Charleston CVB says based on the current climate with the coronavirus his organization will look back at the summer of events in the city and call it a success.
Brady recently spoke to 580-WCHS about all the happenings including Live of the Levee, West Virginia Power, a modified version of FestivALL, The Basketball Tournament (TBT), and the strong attendance. He said there was a lot of pent-up demand this summer based on the fact that nothing could be held in summer 2020.
“We all knew that going into the summer and I think we saw based on attendance numbers, that play out. People were eager to get out of the house and people were eager to get together as a community,” Brady said.
Brady said Live on the Levee, which continues into October, has passed the eyeball test with crowds. Brady also said the CVB was “thrilled” with the attendance of TBT in July at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center (CCCC). There were questions heading into the sporting event with it being indoors and COVID-19 still around, but Brady said the event set the city up for the future.
The CVB reported shortly after TBT generated around $8.5 million in economic impact. Brady said that includes hotel numbers, ticket sales for games, retail spending, and money purchasing gas.
“When we look back on the Summer of 2021, TBT will be the biggest event we pulled off in the city of Charleston. We are going to look back and see that was the high water mark for tourism in the city of Charleston,” Brady said.
Other “successful” events Brady mentioned were the Wiz Khalifa concert at Power Park in early July. Brady said based on its success with ticket sales and traffic, more events like that should come to the ballpark.
Brady also said national conventions this summer at the CCCC including American baptist Associations and Military Order of the Purple Heart drove all kinds of people to downtown businesses. He said all summer events downtown brought much-needed business to shops and restaurants in the area
“Yeah, we want to have good attendance at the events. But what we really want is the people that are attending events is to go out and spend money on our local businesses,” Brady said.
“We have really heard a lot of positive feedback from our downtown and local business in the Charleston area.”
Brady encouraged residents to get vaccinated for COVID-19, calling it the only way future events will be held in the fall. Foam at the Dome, OctoberWest and concerts at the CCCC is on CVB officials’ minds.