FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — You may notice more visitors in town this weekend for Homecoming weekend on The Hill. Homecoming brings thousands of people to Northwest Arkansas every year, which could bring a boost in revenue for local businesses.
In 2012, the University of Arkansas completed a study that found the average football game generated $4.9 million in visitor spending. On top of that, those same visitors generated $800,000 in local sales tax over a football weekend. But, that was 12 years ago.
"We've grown a little over 3,000 persons a year, so that's 36,000 more people here," CEO of Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce Steve Clark said. "That number is going to go up, but it's not just how much they spend. It's how many hotel nights that's gone up. It is how much sales tax because the city gets a share of that sales tax. We have our own sales tax, but we have part of the state sales tax."
Clark said there are a little under 4,000 businesses in Fayetteville and estimates that around 2,000 of those businesses thrive from August to May.
"It's very seasonal for them. Whether you're in the hospitality business, you're serving food or beverage, or providing entertainment," Clark said.
One of those 4,000 businesses is a Fayetteville staple, Catfish Hole. It's a fan favorite for Razorback sports, and it's coming up on its 30th anniversary in November.
Restaurant owner Britain White said today was the calm before the storm as he prepares his staff for a busy weekend.
"Anytime the Razorbacks are in town, specifically in football, it's almost like Mother's Day and Father's Day weekend," White said. "There are tons of folks that come in."
Catfish Hole has become particularly popular through the football program since they host "The Pittman Show" on Wednesday nights. White said any time during the school year is typically their busiest season.
"Coming into the fall with a university getting back in the swing of things, so that always helps," White said. "We used to see a little bit of a lull in the summertime, but really, about the last couple of years, we don't really have any major dips. We just have big swings."
With Homecoming starting this weekend, one Arkansas alumnus, Fred Bonner visited his favorite restaurant for old-time's sake.
"My apartment was literally about less than a mile from here, so I literally had to pass here to go to the university," Bonner said. "Every Sunday after church, this was a place. It was a staple, and my parents, my mom, she loved, loved, loved coming here."
Bonner is now a professor at Prairie View A&M University and he graduated from the U of A in 1997 in Higher Education Administration. He came back to celebrate Homecoming for a special reason. He will be receiving Arkansas's highest alumni award, the Citation of Distinguished Alumni.
"I'm excited about being able to come back and to share and actually be awarded by the place that has poured so much into me," he said. "The Arkansas Alumni Award is based on the university's recognition of what I've been able to do with my University of Arkansas degree out in the professional world."
Bonner said he has focused his research on high-achieving African American males. He said the awards ceremony will allow a space for him to share the good news about what he's working on at his institution now.
"I have a $1.5 million grant from the WK Kellogg Foundation, and we titled that grant BMST, which stands for Black male stem teach, and the goal of that grant is to get more black men teaching," he said. "All the great education I got here at Arkansas actually prepared me to be able to do projects like BMST."
So far, a lot of alumni, like Bonner, have stopped to grab lunch or dinner at the Catfish Hole.
"The ones that went to school in the late '90s, early 2000s, they're used to coming to the Catfish Hole, and whenever they get to come back and visit, they always put it on their stop to be able to come and check things out and see if it's still the same," White said. "The biggest surprise we see is it hasn't changed a bit, so everybody still loves it."
Saturday's game against #8 LSU is an evening game and staff at Catfish Hole are planning accordingly.
"We're gonna have a huge lunch and an early dinner, definitely," White said. "And then we'll be prepared for a Sunday morning ... before they're going to leave town, they'll come down here, and sometimes, if they don't want to be in the Fayetteville traffic because it's always a mess on Sunday morning."
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