Gazette file photo These visitors from Ishpeming check out one of the classic cars during a past Bridgefest car show. The Keweenaw Chamber of commerce estimates the annual celebration generates an estimated $2.7 million annually.

HOUGHON — Each year Bridgefest attracts residents and visitors alike to enjoy festivities that pack people into Kestner Waterfront Park. Food vendors, businesses, games, children’s activities, non-profits and other entities are able to generate income during the festival, though the economic impact of Bridgefest stretches further than the activities in Kestner park.

Whether it is money spent in the park or at local shops, hotels or restaurants, the festival presents a sizable contribution to the local economy. According to the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce’s Katie Schlief, Bridgefest generates an estimated $2.7 million in economic impact over the four day celebration, making a significant impact on the local economy. She said the festival consistently draws in tens of thousands of attendees to the park with even more participating in off-site events.

“Each year, the celebration continues to grow, bringing live music, food, games, and crowd favorites like the classic car show, Touch-a-Truck, and the hot dog-eating contest to both Houghton and Hancock,” Schlief said. “Beyond the entertainment, Bridgefest plays a crucial role in supporting local businesses, restaurants, attractions, lodging, and community organizations. Athletic programs, nonprofit groups, and other local initiatives benefit significantly by raising funds through races, tournaments, and other weekend events.”

Todd Gast from the Hancock DDA said during Bridgefest the city’s businesses often do promotions to bring attention to their shops and hotels. An example Gast provided was the Keweenaw Co-op doing a popsicle giveaway during Bridgefest.

“We like to create the opportunity for businesses to do something within the events, to run a promotion, to have a sale or to do something that encourages people to come in and visit,” Gast said.

The reach stretches farther than Houghton and Hancock, with one of the usual food vendors, the Dog Father Food Concessions food truck from L’Anse. One of the owners of the business, Greg Alessandroni said the food truck makes about 10 percent of its annual income from Bridgefest.

“It’s probably our best event for the year,” Alessandroni said. “It’s also one of the funnest ones because there’s a lot of different people.”

The Dog Father sells a plethora of different hot dogs and brats doctored up in a variety of ways from noon to midnight during the festival. Alessandroni said he has been told some Bridgefest attendees make it to the festival just because the Dog Father will be there.

Sometimes the economic impact of Bridgefest is not felt immediately, though its ripples carry to the future. Diamond House International and Wild Ones Keweenaw are two examples of this. While both generate money during the festival, Diamond House International estimates about five percent of their income comes at the event, they both say it is afterwards they make more business due to attendees learning about them during the festival.

The owner of Diamond House International Phillip Vasquez said displaying custom prints in their tent draws attention to locals and visitors alike, which creates potential customers of each given the business ships its products internationally. Vasquez said leading up to Bridgefest there are also multiple orders made for custom print shirts for the festival from various different groups and organizations that are looking to advertise themselves during the festivities.

“The exposure is pretty phenomenal, because we get a lot of return customers after the fact, whether it’s a week down the road or a month down the road or a year down the road,” Vasquez said. “We’re always having people say, ‘Hey, we’ve seen you at Bridgefest. We’ve seen what you did, and now we’re here.'”

Marcia Goodrich of Wild Ones Keweenaw said many who come to Bridgefest are not expecting a booth selling pollinator plants, and if they do not purchase anything immediately, they sign up for notifications of plant sales.

“Not everybody is wandering around at Bridgefest thinking about gardening,” Goodrich said. “It’s something of an impulse buy for them. But later on, if they have a chance to order from our sales, then they can think about it and plan more and maybe put in a pretty good sized order.”

Other businesses such as Annie Rocks Paint make money not just on products, but also faceprinting. The owner Annie Miller said the event will helps make up 20 percent of her yearly revenue at Bridgefest.

“That’s also not only very fulfilling for me, not only like financially, but emotionally and spiritually,” Miller said. “I really enjoy the connections I make with people. I’m selling my artwork, so I kind of get a little bit of a personal connection with my customers for my sales.”