The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival _ which gives music fans plenty to celebrate _ did not offer the city's tourism industry as much to cheer about this year.
Organizers say the event set a post-Hurricane Katrina attendance record of more than 400,000 for its two-week run. The final Saturday, when approximately 90,000 people attended, was the largest single-day since the 2005 storm.
But the shadow of the national recession fell on restaurants and shops that normally do big business during the event.
"We were not as strong as the attendance at Jazz Fest would suggest we should have been," said Ralph Brennan, whose family runs almost a dozen New Orleans restaurants. "I think it was because people just aren't spending money the way they usually do. The national economy is making people conscious of what they spend."
After paying for their trips, hotels, Jazz Fest tickets and food at the festival, Brennan said festgoers economized by cutting back on post-festival meals.
Jazz Fest tickets were $40 in advance and $50 at the gate this year. That was up from two years ago, when tickets were $35 in advance and $40 at the gate. In 2004, tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 at the gate.
At the Redfish Grille, Brennan's Bourbon Street restaurant that gets most of its business from tourists, Brennan said business was down 5 percent the first weekend of Jazz Fest and 15 percent the second weekend. He said his other restaurants had similar hits.
At K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, made famous by Chef Paul Prudhomme, Jazz Fest participants filled tables, but spent sparingly, said vice president Carl Crowder.
"We're pretty much on line with what we did last year," Crowder said. "The nominal difference was that we were just a tad down of the check average. I think people are economizing, not buying as much of the high end wines, that sort of thing."
John Williams, director of the Lester E. Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration at the University of New Orleans, and co-director of the research center, said the numbers aren't compiled yet, but the word filtering into them is that it was a down year away the festival grounds.
"It's very preliminary, but we're hearing that spending was down a little," Williams said. "Which is in contrast with other festivals where spending has been up or steady."
The Jazz Fest does not allow attendees to exit and re-enter the grounds. That, and the 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours may have contributed to the downturn in business outside the festival, some business owners speculated.
"Maybe they're worried about the economy, or maybe they're just too tired to hit the bars," said Earl Bernhardt, co-owner of Tropical Isle, Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro and the Funky Pirate Blues Club, all in the French Quarter. "We were a little bit down for Jazz Fest ... We had some good nights, but we weren't slammed to the wall any night."
At Rock 'N' Bowl, a combination music club and bowling alley that is usually packed after the festival closes, business was booming this year.
But owner Johnny Blancher said that might be because the New Orleans landmark had moved from the spot it occupied since 1941 to a new building that not only had 18 bowling alleys but three times the space for a dance floor.
"I'm sure the new venue had something to do with it," Blancher said. "But we had our best Jazz Fest ever. Better than before Katrina. I guess some people found some extra money for a little more fun."
