MLT reports fourth record summer

Attributes success in part to growth in summer events.

With another Labor Day weekend come and gone, Mammoth’s official summer season is at an end. “Anecdotally, I can tell you we’re having a fourth record summer,” said Mammoth Lakes Tourism Executive Director John Urdi.

Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) in June alone was up 32 percent from last year, he said, coming in at $811,000. This represents a 79 percent increase since 2010, when the Town collected roughly $400,000 in TOT.

Urdi said this will likely be the Town’s third $1 million July in a row, and while there are no numbers yet for August, “We are cautiously optimistic we have strong numbers and a new record as well,” he said.

Urdi attributed this increase in TOT in part to the growth in attendance at summer events. “The Mammoth Half Marathon [alone] grew 50 percent in participation,” he said.

Villagefest owner and event promoter Cathleen Calderon said attendance at this year’s eleventh-annual Villagefest also grew, from roughly 9,200 attendees over the three days last year, to about 10,000 this year.

“It was perfect,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for better. Vendors were happy; they had a good three days with it, in terms of increased revenue … We’ve found that it’s become a summer tradition for a lot of people.”

Calderon noted that attendance has also shifted from 52 percent locals and 48 percent visitors last year to a greater percentage of visitors this year. “To me, that’s a success story,” she said. Particularly seeing as visitors attending Villagefest stay three to four nights in town.

“We’re getting people to see how awesome Mammoth is in the summer,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Mammoth Lakes Foundation CEO Dion Agee reported that this year’s Mammoth Food & Wine Experience was also a success. “We were probably about even with attendance last year, but a lot of the [event’s] components got bigger,” he said. Agee noted that this summer’s event boasted seven seminars, as well as a second Best of the Best Burger Battle (won by CJ’s Grill Chef Jason Hoeltzel), a Village wine walk featuring 17 wineries, and a grand tasting featuring 25 wineries pouring 100 plus wines.

Agee thanked the event’s 70 volunteers and the support of sponsor Honda, local businesses, and Measure U for the success of Mammoth Food & Wine.

The event continued to see roughly 60 percent local and 40 percent visitor attendance. “I think everybody’s struggling in town, so the amount of support was huge,” he said. Agee noted that funds raised by Mammoth Food & Wine go directly to cultural programs like the Edison Theatre, as well as Cerro Coso scholarships. “It’s all about what the community can help us with,” he said.

Agee touched upon a second way in which summer events in Mammoth are growing: not just in attendance, but in variety.

Mammoth Food & Wine “rounded off an amazing offering to our visitors that weekend,” he said, noting that the Gimme Shelter Carnival was in full swing during the Food & Wine weekend.

“If you have just one event every weekend, that’s great, but not everything strikes a chord with every family,” he said. “It’s great that this depth  [of events] is starting to emerge in our town, to meet the tastes of a such a wide variety of visitors … Now there are choices.”

Mammoth Rocks event organizer Mark Deeds seconded Agee. “It’s great that people can come here, June through September, and say, gosh, we’ve hiked to Crystal Lake, gone fishing, hiking, biking, and now we can go to this awesome event,” he said. “It creates a complete experience for the guest.”

Deeds said this year’s Mammoth Rocks “was a definite success.” He said he had received positive feedback from both visitors and vendors. In fact, “According to our preliminary numbers, 10-15 percent of people listed Mammoth Rocks as the primary reason they came to Mammoth,” he said. Deeds estimated about three to four thousand people attended the three-day event.

“We always hope for things to be even better, but we’re completely thrilled with the event this year,” he said.

Deeds also noted that Mammoth Rocks specifically chose a weekend (August 22-24) that has historically witnessed a drop off in visitation numbers. “Over the years, year after year, the visitation numbers have slowly but steadily improved on that weekend,” he said. While he didn’t attribute the change solely to Mammoth Rocks, “I am a firm believer that it plays a very important part in it.”

Like Agee, Deeds thanked Measure U and the event’s sponsors. “People don’t realize what a huge effort it takes to have an event,” he said. “It’s definitely not getting easier [to do] … So the support of local businesses in town is hugely important.”

Smaller events also reported success. StellarFest event coordinator Kyle Scalise said that this year’s Fest grew both in scale, with seven bands rather than five, and in attendance. “We did really well,” he said. “We had better bands, a bigger turnout, and we raised a ton of money for Mammoth Medical Missions. We expect the same next year; we can’t wait for it.”

Meanwhile the downscaled Mammoth Festival, which this year became the Mammoth Wine Weekend, hit capacity at 700 tickets sold, MMSA Public Relations Lauren Burke reported. “The Wine Walk raised over $10,000 for the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation,” she said.

The new Kid’s Adventure Games “was also a success,” Burke said; “we hit our goal of 75-100 kids with a final number of 94 competitors, and we’re looking forward to holding the event next year.”

Urdi expects to get the July and August TOT numbers in the next few months. “All in all I have heard from many businesses that they have had their best revenues and occupancies in july and August in years,” Urdi said.