Businesses booming for Harvest jazz festival

Downtown Fredericton will be a very busy spot this weekend as thepopular Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival rolls out some of its top attractions.

Thousands of people are expected to take in the sounds of the annual music festival, the biggest event of its kind in the Maritimes.

For the past 22 years, the blues festival has turned a normal week in September into a multi-million dollar business for Fredericton.

"It creates anywhere from $6 to $7 million in economic spinoff," said David Seabrook, the tourism manager for the city of Fredericton.

The biggest winners of the busy five-day festival are downtown restaurants.

"This is the best week of the year for us by far," said Doug Williams, the co-owner of the Garrison District Ale House.

'This is the weekend nobody gets to request it off, nobody gets to go away this weekend.' Doug Williams, Garrison District Ale House

"This is the weekend nobody gets to request it off, nobody gets to go away this weekend."

Williams says once the festival gets into full swing, his staff are working flat out.

Hotels in Fredericton are full with many people booking well in advance.

Vendors working the downtown streets Thursday night say the festival is making things very busy so far.

"We opened about an hour and a half ago and it has been a white out ever since," said Jamie Lynch of Fresh Foods.

Big crowds are expected throughout the weekend and there will be more taxis running in the downtown than normal.

Business slows down for some

But despite the heavy influx of people making their way downtown, some businesses say the festival hurts sales.

"It costs us more and our sales are negatively impacted," said Luke Randall of Endeavours, a downtown art shop.

The 2012 lineup features some well known performers such as Kathleen Edwards, John Mayall, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires and Jill Barber.

Festival organizers believe this could be a record year with more than $1 million in ticket revenue.