Knoxville’s economy got a boost over the holiday weekend with Boomsday spectators and University of Tennessee football fans.
An estimated 300,000 people poured into the area for the Labor Day fireworks display and UT football season opener, the City of Knoxville reported.
And they brought a lot of business.
West Cumberland Avenue, more commonly known as the Strip, was swamped with customers on Saturday and Sunday before the fireworks and game.
“There’s no way to be prepared for game days,” Jason Wrooten, manager of Jimmy Johns at 1700 W. Cumberland Ave., said. “So you do everything you can and take care of people the best that you can.”
Knoxville hotels, as well as those in surrounding counties, also saw a rise in business over the holiday weekend. Due to the weekend events, Knoxville hotels reached near full or full capacity.
The Holiday Inn Select at 525 Henley St. filled 300 rooms and stayed full for the duration of the weekend, Nathan Hill, night manager, said.
While Hill said his hotel is booked for most home football game weekends, he said the combination of Boomsday and Sunday’s game made booking rooms more difficult this weekend.
“Of course it was a lot harder to get a reservation,” Hill said.
Most Cumberland Avenue fast food restaurants stayed open later hours to accommodate the post-game crowds.
Wendy’s, located at 1816 W. Cumberland Ave., kept the doors open until 3 a.m. on Sunday and sold almost $40,000 in food, Crew Manager Gwendolyn Imes said.
“I think we got a little more than we expected,” she said. “It was busy, busy.”
Imes said Wendy’s closed its drive-through window around 3 p.m. to rent out its parking lot for the game, but still stayed busy by taking walk-up orders.
Employees look forward to the additional work provided by football season, Imes said.
The UT game against the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, which was originally set for Saturday, was rescheduled in the spring. ESPN2 requested the game be moved for national coverage purposes.
In accordance with this change, the city moved the date of the annual Boomsday celebration to fall on Sept. 4. City officials evaluated the situation to see if the city would even be able to handle that many people.
