At Massive Graphics in Norman, workers stamp t-shirt after t-shirt for the festival. Sitting on a nearby table are neat piles of freshly printed shirts for Norman Music Festival X with designs like a tambourine playing monkey and an acoustic guitar. The screen printing company is owned by Kent Johnson. He’s also the vice president of the volunteer board that organizes Norman Music Festival every year, and he’s been there since the beginning.
“When it started it would be 10 years ago,” Johnson said, “It was just a - kind of a harebrained idea of a couple of people, and we threw it together pretty quick and we really didn't have any idea what we were doing. And it just turned out fantastic.”
The estimated attendance for last year was 100,000 for all three days, and the Norman Music Festival board is expecting even more attendees this weekend.
“The community has embraced it, and it's turned into the one of the biggest free indie music festivals in the region and that's something we can surely be proud of,” Johnson said.
Norman Music Festival is Thursday, April 27th through Saturday, April 29th this year. Drawing large crowds and big bands, the three day event has become an annual destination for many music lovers in the region over the last decade.
The festival has grown, adding more venues, bands and sponsors. It’s also grown in importance for the city. Norman Mayor Lynne Miller says Oklahoma municipalities increasingly live and die by sales tax. At a time that retail sales are languishing, the festival gives Norman a boost.
“Cities are looking at all sorts of ways to increase, improve their economic situation and it attracts people to Norman,” Miller said. “Sometimes it even attracts people enough that they decide they want to live here.”
She says the economic impact is far reaching, and festival organizers predict over a million dollars of generated revenue, as concert-goers stay in hotels, eat out and shop.
“For a few years I think there was some dissension on Main Street as to whether or not it hurt business for the stores. But for the most part I think the stores have come along and feel like it's a positive thing,” Miller said.
For Red Brick Bar owner Mark Dorman, it’s one of the biggest weekends of the year. The bar is one of the festival’s music venues and the bands attract new customers.
“After the first hour, we're packed door to door. Sometimes we have to stop people coming in here because we get too crowded,” Dorman said.
Organizer Kent Johnson describes Norman Music Festival as a banner weekend for many businesses.
“They are not necessarily in the food or alcohol business, but retailers downtown. We're putting 100,000 people right in front of your store,” Johnson said. “A savvy businessman will create promotions that relate to that.”
But not every business on Main Street in Norman is excited about the festival. Around 20 businesses voted no or abstained on a necessary street closure petition. KGOU spoke with several shop owners, but none would comment on the record. They are concerned about theft, people streaming in and out searching for a public restroom, and overall disruption to their businesses. For some, their only option is to close during the festival.
As the event’s popularity expands, organizers have to contend with a ballooning number of people in town. Kent Johnson says future growth is becoming a concern.
“As the attendance continues to grow, we are reaching a critical point on the infrastructure. We just can't get much bigger and support another hundred thousand people at the same time,” Johnson said. “We may look at doing some different dates, some things of that nature.”
Norman Music Festival also just added its first paid employee this year -- a big step for something that started ten years ago as little more than what Johnson describes as his harebrained idea.
