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Organizers tell council Texas Blueberry Festival drew roughly 18,000 unique devices; chamber outlines marketing results
Summary
Festival organizers and the chamber reported event highlights, vendor and volunteer participation, and an estimate from device-counting technology of about 17,869 unique phones in the festival footprint on June 8, 2024; a formal economic-impact report is pending.
Organizers of the Texas Blueberry Festival thanked the city for its partnership and presented attendance and marketing metrics to the council on July 16.
Gracan Lurel, executive director of Millard's Crossing Historic Village and chair of the Texas Blueberry Festival, described event attractions, volunteers, sponsorships and community partnerships and said the festival involved hundreds of vendors and dozens of community groups.
Kelly Augustine of the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce told council members the chamber used device-counting technology to estimate unique cell phones in the festival footprint: "that source reports for this specific area on June 8th is 17,869," she said. Augustine cautioned the figure does not equal exact attendance because not everyone carries a phone and some activities were outside the device-count footprint; other measures (including 1,263 pounds of blueberries picked at one site and a 600+ attendee quilt event) support the chamber's broader estimate that the festival attracted roughly 20,000 people.
Organizers said marketing efforts (streaming TV ads and digital campaigns) produced high completion and click-through rates and that a more complete economic impact analysis will be included in the chamber's annual report due in September. Council members and organizers exchanged informal remarks of thanks and invited council participation in next year's events.
