WACO, Texas — The Perryman Group Economic Research Firm projects the entire State of Texas to bring in about $427 million over the weekend leading up to April 8, when the total solar eclipse passes over Central Texas.
Morgan Kimber, the general manager of Pivovar Restaurant, says the adjoining hotel to their restaurant has been booked out for over a year and she expects the dining rush to require all hands on deck over the course of the weekend.
"Everybody who works here will be working that weekend," Kimber said. "We project we're going to see 500 people a day for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday."
Kimber said they'll be ordering excess food and drinks to ensure they don't run out of supplies. She said they'll also be hosting a party on their beer garden patio for those visiting to take in the eclipse.
The restaurant will also be putting on a special for $5.99 for all beers the weekend of the eclipse.
Chris Cox, the owner of Backyard Bar, Stage and Grill, says for his outdoor venue they're anticipating anywhere from 75,000 to 300,000 people to visit.
He said they'll be hosting artists such as Randall King on the Thursday leading up to the eclipse, Dexter and the Moonrocks on Saturday and on Sunday they'll have live music and a party for the "eclipse-eve."
"All the weeks leading up to it we'll be ordering extra food, extra drinks, extra condiments, supplies because we've been warned by the suppliers that they don't even know what's going to happen," Cox said.
For his venue, Cox says they plan to have extra security working over the eclipse weekend to ensure operations are running smoothly. He says his biggest worry is running out of supplies.
"I'm going to promise you there are going to be places in town that run out of something and we're probably going to be one of them," Cox said.
Ray Perryman, with The Perryman Group Economic Research firm, says the Waco area should see around $30 million dollars of revenue over the eclipse weekend, and the Killeen-Temple areas should see closer to $32 million.
"You can think of it in some ways as a major sporting event or a major convention coming to your town, you’re bringing in a lot of people for a few days and that’ll give you the opportunity to show off and hopefully encourage people to come back more often," Perryman said.
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