Numbers are preliminary, but last Saturday’s downtown parade for Vicksburg native and Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler provided a measurable bump in business for local hotels and visibility for shops along the parade route.

Occupancy at Courtyard by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Suites was 82 percent for Feb. 20-21, according to figures supplied by Southern Hospitality Services LLC, which operates the three Vicksburg hotels.

Lynn Foley, director of sales for the hotel firm, said the rate was up 12 percent from the same time in 2013 — the year she says last represented an ordinary mid-February weekend in the industry locally. In 2014, a refueling outage at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station to start the year brought about 1,000 contract workers to west-central Mississippi and spiked occupancy at the three hotels to 100 percent, Foley said.
“There was huge demand for the hotel, but it wasn’t all parade-related,” Foley said, adding the three hotels over the weekend had “a good bit of group and corporate business that was not parade-related.”

A fuller report for February occupancy from Smith Travel Research Inc. is expected by March 12, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Bill Seratt said. About half of Vicksburg’s 32 hotels subscribe to the Nashville-based industry tracker.

“We don’t have the numbers yet, but lots of people were out buying gas, going out to eat,” Seratt said. “I’m sure the shops had a boon down there.”

Casino hotels, often full with frequent players through packages and small discounts, appeared busy. The largest of the city’s four, Ameristar, didn’t offer any numbers but were happy with their business last weekend.

“Thankfully, we have great business every weekend,” public relations manager Lori Burke said. “We have loyal guests who come each weekend.”

Much of the estimated 10,000 people who flocked to the parade route along Washington Street might not have had a spending spree in the gift shops open before and during the parade, but last weekend’s face time with the tourists was good for the gift shop-heavy corridor, operators said.

“People don’t really come out to buy, they come to see the parade,” said Barbara Willingham, of Willingham’s Gift Shop. “It didn’t really bring any business, but we’re just so proud of him and just loved the parade.”

Parade participants did keep registers busy at Frederick’s, which sells a mix of children’s apparel.

“We sold dance supplies and tights to dance team members right up to the morning of the parade,” operator Norma Massey said.

Daryl Hollingsworth, operator of The Wine House, said the parade “absolutely” brought more attention to his business but wanted to see more of the city’s approximately 900 barricades placed along the route.

“If ever there was a time to put them out, it was then,” Hollingsworth said.

Most were put out at major intersections along Washington Street and some were used at the peace walk north of town honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said.

“We use them mainly at parades where we have people going out in the street to get throws, like the Mardi Gras parade,” Armstrong said. “We don’t want to shut people out of their businesses.”