Philadelphia's festivals & events deliver real value to the region

CITIES NEED festivals and events. That's why every city has them. Why they build arenas, stadiums, waterfronts and fairgrounds. Why streets are periodically closed and turned into event sites.

From big cities to small towns across America, special events are what bring people together and bring people in. They are what define a place, give it color and give people a reason to come together and enjoy something that won't happen again anywhere for another year, if ever.

Local artists get to win new audiences. Local restaurants and sign-makers, sound and light suppliers, builders and vendors, parking lots and security companies, PR agencies and ad-sellers all get to make some money and generate jobs.

Much has been written lately about Philadelphia's events - big ones like the Mummers Parade, Wawa Welcome America! and the West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival, as well as smaller community events, neighborhood festivals and ethnic parades. The articles question whether they are worth the money and to what degree the city and state should support them with public money, especially in hard times.

Those are fair questions, and governments certainly shouldn't be writing blank checks to festival organizers. We need to balance the cost of such events against the potential economic and civic benefits. And we need to monitor the results; some clearly have a better return over time than others.

But these events can't simply be seen as a cost to government. They are a business in themselves and part of a much bigger industry - tourism. Last year, this industry generated $8.2 billion in economic impact for Philadelphia and environs (including Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties), $1.2 billion in federal, state and local taxes and 83,664 jobs (5 percent of all jobs in the region) accounting for $2.6 billion in wages.

In other words, investment in this industry doesn't compete with other programs - it helps pay for them.

These events are such important drivers of visitation that the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. has identified eventgoers as one of the eight highest-yield markets for this region, especially in recessionary times.

Why? Because we aren't only in a financial recession, we're in an emotional one. And when times are hard, people need the kind of lift that arts, culture, food and company can give, and they will travel for their passion for music and dance, spectacle and fun. In fact, even when they cut down on trips, a favorite festival may still make the cut. Leisure hotel stays to Philadelphia actually grew last year, the only segment to do so, and outpaced projections by 5 percent. For the sixth straight year, Saturday night was the busiest night of the week for Center City hotels.

That's why GPTMC advertises and promotes events, highlights them on visitphilly.com and uwishunu.com, and sometimes even helps develop them. The words "authentic" and "only in Philadelphia" are big draws, and "festival" and "events" are two of the most powerful search words on the Web in general.

Tom Kaiden, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, says, "Festivals and events are one of our most popular and accessible art forms and are consistently among the most visited pages of our regional calendar, phillyfunguide.com.

"Jazz, in particular, has deep roots in Philadelphia, and a festival that brings nationally recognized performers to our city is important to our identity and heritage."

All the festivals and events cited above are free to the public, and the total attendees number in the millions. To all these people, the events are clearly worth something. It's difficult to measure pride, entertainment value, identity, neighborhood development and joy, but the numbers of people who come to them are a pretty good indicator.

SURE, events can be more successful one year to the next, but that's true for sports teams, summer films and theater seasons, too. Value has to be judged over time, and the people of Philadelphia and people who come to Philadelphia can and will make that judgment.

Meryl Levitz is president and CEO of GPTMC (Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.).