2013 Crowds, Economic Impact Up from Scarecrow Fest

SOURCE: Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau

The Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau released its final numbers from this past October’s 28th annual Scarecrow Fest.

Over the course of the three-day event, Bureau staff and volunteers collected more than 700 intercept surveys from festival attendees with the following results:

• Scarecrow Fest drew visitors from at least 25 states across the country;

• Illinois visitors represented over 125 communities within the state of Illinois and 50 percent of those visitors surveyed came from outside of the Fox Valley;

The intercept surveys also revealed the following positive economic impacts on greater St. Charles:

• 26 percent of visitors surveyed who were repeat, non-St. Charles visitors came to greater St. Charles between 2012 and 2013 Scarecrow Fests;

• A total of 192 room nights were tracked both thru surveys and St. Charles hotels accounting for $81,399 in estimated overnight spending (based on $129 per day leisure overnight visitor expenditure per D.K. Shifflet & Associates’ 2006 Visitor Profile);

When factored into the St. Charles Police Department’s estimated 2013 festival attendance of 110,000 visitors (up from 90,000 in 2012), the estimated total direct spending by Scarecrow Fest visitors, based on survey info and festival attendance, was $4,159,075. This figure includes no revenue generated by approximately 55,000 visitors who attended the festival from communities in the Fox Valley, including St. Charles, Geneva, Elgin, Aurora, Batavia, etc.,

The Bureau also revealed the dates and times for the 29th annual Scarecrow Fest. The 2014 festival will take place:

• Friday, Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (9 p.m. in Lincoln Park).

Scarecrow Fest is produced by the Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau in conjunction with Ravenswood Event Services. Famous for its unique, handcrafted scarecrows, this nationally recognized festival celebrates and promotes the greater St. Charles area as a tourism destination. Since its inaugural year in 1985, the Scarecrow Fest has proven to be a successful, award-winning event for St. Charles. In 2012, Scarecrow Fest was featured on NBC’s Today Show as one of the top fall events in the country. For more information, visit the Scarecrow Fest website.

The Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau is funded by a portion of the hotel/motel tax collected by St. Charles hotels and by the Illinois Office of Tourism for the purpose of promoting greater St. Charles as a destination for leisure tourists and meetings and conventions, sports events, and motor coach trips.