Big Week expected to bring a big boost to local economy

Fans of the California Rodeo Salinas said the event has something for just about everyone.

“You’ll have the top cowboys and top cowgirls here,” California Rodeo Salinas marketing coordinator Mandy Linquist said.

The event draws in lots of people and lots of money too. California Rodeo Salinas officials told KION results from a preliminary economic impact study reveals that the event brings in millions of dollars to Monterey County. More than 60,000 people who are coming to watch all the action. More than 40 percent of them will stay in hotels.

“Over $620,000 is spent on dining while people are here,” said Linquist. “So the gas stations see an uptick, the food establishments see an uptick.”

It is not just hotels either. Taquitos Mexican Restaurant is expecting their business to go up 30 percent.

“It’s going to be very crowded, very crowded,” said Sandra Pierce with Taquitos Mexican Restaurant.

This week they’re bringing in extra staff to handle all the extra foot traffic.

“We have customers that they’ve been coming every year for the past 10 years or 15 years and they just come back every year,” said Pierce. “It’s like a tradition for them.”

Aloha Hawaiian BBQ is right across the street from the venue. They said Big Week is one of their busiest weeks of the year. It’s a time when they get 50 percent more business.

“We actually have to double our employees,” said Aloha Hawaiian BBQ manager Maritza Gonzales-Soto. “Sometimes some of our days we get the line out the door.”

Other businesses we talked to say because the rodeo is happening on Main Street, it also give hotels and restaurants outside of downtown Salinas more exposure.

“Before we used to have pure Hawaiian and those kind of people,” said Soto. “Now we have more Mexican, more Latinos, more American people coming and noticing the place. So it’s really good for us.”

Hotels said they are expected to be booked this week.