For the business community and the city, North by 35 Music Conferette’s expanded second year was a success, bringing in roughly 20,000 visitors to Denton, with an economic impact felt at restaurants, stores, hotels and music venues last weekend.

However, the festival’s balance sheet tells a different story, said Chris Flemmons, the creative director behind the conference.

While wristband sales garnered a 1,000 percent increase, the cost to pull off the March 11-14 festival and free show with Denton’s Midlake and internationally renowned experimental pop band the Flaming Lips at the North Texas State Fairgrounds was insane, he said.

DRC file photo/David Minton

North by 35 Music Conferette last weekend drew crowds downtown to watch live music, and many venues, including Dan’s Silverleaf, filled to maximum capacity.

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“There were so many costs that it hamstrung us,” Flemmons said. “I’m not saying it [the festival] wasn’t a slam dunk in the hearts and minds of the community, but it was weak in the nickels and dimes.”

Last year, the festival’s finances broke even, a feat that organizers were proud of, giving them hopes that the second festival would be able to help finance future events.

But the rising costs of the 200 bands brought in to perform at the 11 venues, as well as the amount of money to pull off the free Flaming Lips show, crippled the balance sheet, Flemmons said. Festival organizers are still working on the balance sheet and finishing paying bills.

“Everything paid for itself, as we got to it,” he said. “It’s dangerous, but to watch the show happen … it was, I don’t know how to describe it. I couldn’t believe it came off like it did.”

Area merchants were thrilled the festival brought business to the downtown area, many of which saw record-breaking nights of patronage, said Julie Glover, Denton’s economic development program administrator.

During the city’s wrap-up meeting Thursday, there were no negative incidents reported, she said.

“I felt like it went well, everything went smoothly,” Glover said.

DRC file photo/David Minton

People wait in line to purchase beer tickets during North by 35 Music Conferette’s free show March 13 at the North Texas State Fairgrounds. The cost to put on the free show, headlined by the Flaming Lips, drove up expenses for the festival.

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This was the first time the Denton Police Department was involved in the festival and the department wasn’t sure what to expect, but officers were met with a well-mannered crowd, said Police Chief Roy Minter.

“We’re very pleased with the outcome of the event,” Minter said.

He said there were only four criminal incidents related to the festival, an impressive number considering the number of attendees.

Economic footprint

While city and festival officials are still reviewing the numbers to determine the economic impact of NX35, qualitatively it brought a lot of economic activity to the area, said Michael Seman, a festival volunteer and research associate studying urban development at the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington.

“There were lots of people on the streets, going in and out of businesses. … It was a healthy weekend for Denton’s economy,” Seman said.

Organizers took steps this year to collect information from festival attendees to gauge the economic impact in a study, which hadn’t been done before, he said.

“If we get a large enough sample, we’ll get to see how many people came out to the event and how much spending they brought with them,” Seman said.

With the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference bringing about $98.3 million in economic impact to Austin, Denton’s smaller “conferette” could still leave a significant economic footprint on the city, he said.

The number of Denton hotel rooms booked this year for the festival easily doubled last year’s number, said Kim Phillips, vice president of the Denton Convention and Visitor Bureau.

From a tourism and hospitality aspect, the festival was a success, she said.

“It’s happening in Denton, it really is. ... It’s an organic, new thing that is rising out of Denton,” Phillips said. “It happened in Austin, it happened in Seattle and now it’s happening in Denton. You can’t buy that, you can’t just create it. It has to be real.”

‘One in, one out’

The 11 Denton music venues around the Square were packed most of the four nights of the festival, many times with capacity crowds and a “one in, one out” policy in keeping with fire safety codes.

DRC file photo/David Minton

A concertgoer peers through the window outside Dan’s Silverleaf while waiting in line for a show March 11.

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There were a lot of new faces at Hailey’s Club on Mulberry Street, with the club filled to capacity last Saturday and Sunday night, owner Ray Gill Jr. said.

The lines of patrons were to be expected as Denton music venues deal with the growing pains of hosting large, national acts, Gill said.

“With four consecutive nights of good shows with sales being good, that’s unusual in this business,” he said.

Andy Bostick, owner of Andy’s Bar on North Locust Street, said the NX35 festival is helping put a face on a nationally renowned music scene and branding it.

About 75 percent of the festival’s patrons were from out of town and every music venue on the schedule was slammed with foot traffic for the festival, Bostick said, but there were no incidents of debauchery from the crowds that the clubs expected.

Sweetwater Grill & Tavern off Elm Street was packed all four nights of NX35, chef Jimmy Meredith said.

Meredith, long a supporter of the Denton music scene as well as the growing downtown hub, said NX35 brings attention to what has become the place to be.

Even stores and restaurants away from the Square reported profiting while the festival was in town.

Businesses at Golden Triangle Mall, which was hosting a carnival, experienced an increased number of shoppers last weekend, said Matt Ludemann, the mall’s manager.

“Anytime we have an influx of population in an area, that’s a good thing,” Ludemann said.

The Black-eyed Pea restaurant off Interstate 35E saw an extraordinary number of customers, general manager Jay Walling said.

“Due to more people in town, we had increased sales, and with spring break starting, we normally slow way down,” Walling said. “The only way I can attribute that was the festival going on.”

The event was beneficial for businesses around town, including the Abbey Inn on Hickory Street, which took advantage of the foot traffic around the Square, said Tim Trawick, a general partner in the restaurant and pub.

“We were hoping for a bigger push, but for a second-year event, as far as the results, we were pleased,” Trawick said.

One disappointment for Trawick and other downtown business owners was that the free Flaming Lips concert wasn’t held downtown.

But overall, Trawick was hopeful for the future of the festival.

“They’ve done a good job in trying to develop the event and not grow too fast, and I think, eventually, it will become an event that will bring business to a lot of businesses downtown,” he said.

With the future of the festival hanging in the balance of the budget sheet, it is unclear how a third festival will be pulled off, said Flemmons, who’s previously sold off many of his possessions to keep the NX35 dream alive.

The reality is that the festival has taken a toll on Flemmons and more than 100 conferette volunteers.

“None of this will continue unless there are some changes on the financial end,” he said. “It’s exhausting. … Working on this for two years, it takes a toll on you physically.”

Flemmons said he’s woken up from frightening nightmares in which he must build a big stage.

“It’s a harsh reality that although there’s a level of personal reward, the pats on the back make no contribution to the real cost it takes to put this on,” Flemmons said.

Staff writer Dawn Cobb contributed to this report.

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com.