After the COVID-19 pandemic made large gatherings unsafe, events everywhere were canceled or changed to accommodate virtual attendance and the city of McAllen’s holiday events were no different. But the city adjusted to the COVID-19 restrictions with a drive-thru lights event that saw about 176,000 people attend, according to a report delivered by Yajaira Flores, director of facilities for the McAllen Convention Center.
During a city workshop held last week, Flores reported an analysis of the event that examined attendance and the economic impact of the South Pole Illuminated Drive, a drive-thru lights event that ran from Dec. 1 to Jan. 3 at the McAllen Convention Center.
Flores reported that the drive had about 32,000 vehicles come through which came out to about 176,000 attendees. She also noted that more than 57,000 of the attendees traveled over 50 miles for the event.
“Which means that were able to continue bringing visitors to the area and that helps with economic impact,” Flores said, “because essentially these people not only come to the event but they’re staying at our hotels, they’re eating at our restaurants, they’re spending money within the city and that helps our economy as well because it keeps our people in the city of McAllen employed and it’s bringing money in from outside of our city.”
Flores reported that economic impact to be about $15.9 million to the local economy.
“What that means to our community is that it generates 177 jobs, it generated 4.3 million in labor income,” Flores told the commissioners. “It added $7.8 million to the county’s gross domestic product and the total spending also generated $1.2 million in state and local taxes and $1.1 million in federal tax.”
As for revenue from the event itself, Flores reported ticket sales for the drive brought in $562,249. Additionally, they sold $184,000 worth of food and beverages and received $110,000 in sponsorships for the event.
In total, Flores told the commissioners that expenses for the event amounted to $602,000 which resulted in $85,629 in profit for the city.
The illuminated drive event was created to replace other activities the city would hold during the holidays.
“We used to host events where people would come to the convention center,” Flores said. “We had our lighting of the Christmas tree and we had a lot of events inside the McAllen Performing Arts Center — the annual Nutcracker, the Russian ballet, the Valley Symphony Orchestra — and then we also had interactive events inside the convention center.”
“This year with COVID, obviously none of that was possible and we decided to do an Illuminated Drive for the first time,” Flores said. “That way we can keep people inside their vehicles, safe and secure, and they were still able to experience the magic of the holidays.”
As for the city’s highly anticipated parade, an annual spectacle that runs down Bicentennial Boulevard and through the McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, had to be rethought.
Instead of making it open to the public, the parade became a strictly televised event, broadcast locally but also in Latin-markets across the country.
“So many events were canceled in 2020 and we just really wanted to not cancel Christmas and a lot of people look forward to these holiday events every year,” Flores said. “It was important for us to give our community a sense of a hope and a brighter Christmas.”
Though vaccination efforts are underway across the country, it remains unclear how the city’s celebrations will shape up this year.
Flores said city staff were planning for different scenarios.
“When we first closed our operations in March due to COVID, we thought we would be closed for 10 weeks and here we are a year later,” Flores said.
“We are planning for winter of 2021, we do have different options that we’re considering and that we’re looking at,” she added. “We did see a lot of success with the South Pole Illuminated Drive and I think that it’s important for us to consider a drive-thru again for next year, although it hasn’t been something that’s confirmed.”
