Small Businesses see Large Impacts with ACL

By Emily Trevino

Reporting Texas

The annual Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) is in full stride. Bringing music, food, and lots of vendors to the tens of thousands of people flowing through Zilker park. The 2-weekend pronounced festival is known widely on a worldwide stage, yet many small businesses and vendors right in the heart of Texas are the baseline for this big festival, and the two work perfectly together. 

ACL’s high intensity foot-traffic works wonders for these small businesses. 

“It’s a huge opportunity for local businesses,” Lisa Crowder, founder of Spare Finery permanent jewelry. “There’s over 70,000 people a day that come to ACL, and I never get my business in front of 70,000 people a day, for six days. It’s just really great exposure.”

Crowder has been in the jewelry industry for around 20 years. Having founded Lisa Crowder Jewelry in 2004, she felt it was time for something new when she added permanent jewelry to her business about three years ago. 

“They like to get a permanent bracelet to commemorate ACL, but also the fun they’re having with their friends. It’s that bond.” Crowder said. “There’s so many fun options out there for chains and stuff like that. We had people that came to us the first year and got a bracelet and came back the second year and got a bracelet.” 

Since Spare Finery’s opening, Crowder has worked at ACL Fest each year.

“It’s been awesome. It’s been truly, really life-changing for the business,” Crowder said. “The first and second year was a little more hectic. But, I kind of know what to anticipate to a certain extent.”

Working hard to up this year’s success from last, Crowder is ready to showcase Spare Finery’s new features this year. 

“This year, we have a whole brand new booth set up. New decorations, new walls, all that good stuff,” Crowder said. “We have a lot of new chain offerings that we didn’t have the last two years. We’ve added some new ones, gotten rid of some of the older ones, and new charms”

For small businesses, like Crowder’s, ACL adds a huge economic benefit to their companies. Crowder said the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on her business and slowed down her sales.

“Then coming out of COVID, doing ACL has replaced that whole chunk of my business now.”

Upon ACL’s return in 2021, it brought 369 million dollars back into the economy after a 2-year COVID-19 hiatus. The amount continues to grow year-to-year. 

“We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Matt Patton, Executive Vice President of AngelouEconomics, a company that studies the economic impact of numerous associations. “That impact is felt locally and regionally. We see these ripple effects  from hiring local companies.”

Sourcing local businesses and showcasing them at a world-renowned festival draws people back into Austin, said Patton. 

“An increase in sales is the first thing, but it’s just the exposure that they’re going to receive from people locally that might not be aware of that local business, and also folks coming in from out of state, out of the country,” Patton said. “You start to build out that brand reputation, both locally and regionally and nationally and internationally.  

Becoming an ACL vendor is a challenging feat. Going through the rigorous application process does not guarantee a spot for the hundreds that apply. This year, only 24 market vendors, including Crowder’s Space Finery made it into Zilker. 

“They see an increase in sales, they see that awareness that we’re talking about,” Patton said. “It’s a very competitive application process, to become a vendor on site.”

Crowder says people looking to become an ACL vendor should scope out the festival first. 

“Check it out and see if you’re built for it or not. It is not easy being in the booth for 12 to 14 hours a day in the heat for six days. It’s not the right fit for everybody,” Crowder said. “Be ready for lots of crowds. You have to be able to produce enough inventory to make it worth it to be out there for the full six days.”

However, it’s not just small businesses inside ACL that benefit from the bustling foot traffic. Businesses outside Zilker park also see a huge boom in sales. 

“It’s very good for business,” said Chef Javi Maggiolo, owner of seven different food trucks, some located in a food truck park off Barton Springs Rd. “The amount of tourists is tremendous.”

Maggiolo says the surge of people leaving ACL late at night keeps their businesses open to the early morning hours. 

“That’s when you double your sales, we’re open till 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning,” Maggiolo said. “It’s madness, it’s crazy. It’s hundreds of people.”

Maggiolo’s food trucks, like other ACL vendors, prep days in advance for the crowds. 

“This year we have a food truck inside, so the prep for that is crazy. The prep outside also is triple what we use to prep for one day,” Maggiolo said. 

Like Crowder, Maggiolo, who’s been active during ACL for the past eight years is always trying to top the previous year’s success. 

“Maybe the first years that we did it, we didn’t know. Then you figure it out and you put it together,” Maggiolo said. “You double the staff, you know when to open, what to prep, the amounts. You have the data for the previous year, so it’s easier.”

Despite the hustle and bustle of preparing for ACL and withstanding the heat for the 2-weekend festival, Crowder and Maggiolo are satisfied with ACL’s positive impact it has on small local businesses.

“I think it means that they’re still committed to Austin,” said Crowder. “Since ACL started, I feel like they’ve always made a pretty big commitment to local businesses and artists.” 

Maggiolo commends not only the opportunities ACL offers to be inside the park but also how the festival overall supports the local community.

“That’s great because it’s backing up all of us and the surrounding areas in the downtown,” Maggiolo said. “I think just ACL happening is enough for local business.”