CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Competing events meant less attendance for the 25th annual Made in Hawaii Festival, which ran Friday to Sunday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Exhibition Hall and Arena.
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There were roughly 10,000 fewer guests at this year’s Made in Hawaii Festival due to competing events on the same weekend.
Festival organizers estimate 50,000 shoppers came to scoop up locally produced items including clothes, jewelry and food. They had expected a “record-breaking crowd.”
An estimated 45,000 football fans were in attendance Saturday to watch the Dallas Cowboys and L.A. Rams’ preseason game at Aloha Stadium.
In addition, there were five showings of “Phantom of the Opera” next door at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, which reserved some levels of parking for the Broadway show, said Amy Hammond, the festival’s executive director.
“There’s not a lot you can do. Parking has a lot to do with it. When people have trouble getting in, they just go away,” she said. “We can still consider it very successful. We didn’t get a lot of complaints from the vendors. They still did very well.”
She did not immediately have revenue numbers, but expected the 420 vendors to generate $1 million in sales from Friday to Sunday and another $10 million to $12 million in residual income following the event.
