Drum Corps competition to bring $4 to $5M to area

City of Bloomington officials are expecting an economic boost from the influx of people The Drum Corps International World Championships will bring to the city. The event will take place Aug. 7 to 9 at Memorial Stadium, and 35,000 to 40,000 people are expected to be in Bloomington over the three days, said Danny Lopez, communications director for the city of Bloomington.

“Anytime you have 35 to 40,000 people there’s a pretty significant economic impact,” Lopez said. “Every single hotel is booked for that weekend, so you can tell just at a glance that it’s significant.”

Mike McAfee, executive director of the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau, estimates around $3 to $4 million will be brought in from tourism revenue, or about the same as an IU - Ohio State football game. Hotels, restaurants and retail shops especially are expected to be affected.

“These are people who plan their vacations around this event,” McAfee said. “They’re definitely going to be going downtown and shopping and eating.”

The city is working to ensure this happens, too. Shuttles have been arranged to run from Memorial Stadium to the downtown area and Kirkwood. Lopez also said a special team has been made to coordinate with the corps to ensure everything runs smoothly while the competing teams and spectators are in town.

The DCI Championships were originally scheduled to take place in Indianapolis with Bloomington being a back-up plan. However, since Lucas Oil Stadium is still under construction, plans were made to move the competition to Bloomington for the first time. Both Lopez and McAfee hope the event will create interest in the city so those visiting will decide to return, as well as convince DCI to hold other competitions in Bloomington.

“We’re already in talks with DCI about hosting an event,” McAfee said. “We expect to have a long-standing relationship with them. That’s our goal with this.”

Lopez also hopes a positive experience during the championships will benefit the city’s tourism sector.

“This won’t be the last time they maybe come down here to stay or make day trips to Bloomington,” he said.

Restaurants and shops on Kirkwood are looking ahead to the number of people expected to come in the weekend of the competition.

“We’ll just have extra staff, we’re used to special events,” said Gregg “Rags” Rago, owner of Nick’s English Hut. He cited examples like Little 500 and football and basketball games as events that create more business than normal for his establishment. “We should be prepared for this, but sometimes you never know.”