St. Pete Welcomes County’s Biggest Reggae Festival

Reggae Rise Up, the country’s largest reggae festival, will return to Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, FL March 18-20, bringing millions of dollars to local businesses. With headliners including Rebelution, Slightly Stoopid and Iration, organizers expect thousands of out-of-town attendees who will contribute millions in economic impact to St. Pete’s hotels, restaurants, transportation providers, and retailers.  

“This event consistently attracts more than 20,000 attendees, with people coming from all over the nation, and even the globe, to enjoy a diverse set of artists and performers,” said St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Stephanie Owens. “We are thrilled to again welcome Reggae Rise Up back to our beautiful city on the Bay. It’s an important event, not only for our residents, but for visitors who will travel from far and wide to enjoy our sunshine, our gorgeous city and this year’s incredible lineup.”

Last year, festival organizers and the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership hired Meshsem, Inc. to provide an economic analysis of the October 2021 event. Meshsem is an independent, Tampa-based research firm who measured spending from out-of-town attendees. Key findings include: 

• Visitors hailed from 20 different countries and all 50 states
• Median age of visitors was 38
• Median household income of visitors was $80,000
• Participants were extremely satisfied with the event (6.4 on a 7-point scale)
• Half of non-resident visitors extended their stay, resulting in additional local spending
• Overall impact to the city of St. Pete was $22.9 million
• Economic impact is the equivalent of 206 jobs in St. Pete and $7M in labor income

Additional impacts include $1.2 million in wages paid to non-resident contractors, team members and suppliers, $750,000 in vendor revenue from non-St. Pete based operations, and $600,000 in local spending by St. Pete residents.  

“We know that artistic events like Reggae Rise Up contribute to downtown’s sense of place, artistic culture, and incredible quality of life,” said Jason Mathis, CEO of the Downtown Partnership. “We didn’t realize the incredible economic windfall this three-day festival brings to St. Pete’s hospitality industry. This artistic event represents new money coming to our local economy and is just as important as any other kind of corporate recruitment effort. In St. Pete, supporting art means investing in economic growth.”  

More information about Reggae Rise up is available here.

A complete copy of the economic impact study is available here.

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