Coffee County treats Bonnaroo like an industry

When I was at Bonnaroo Wednesday afternoon, Coffee County Mayor David Pennington and Manchester Mayor Betty Superstein had glowing comments about one of the biggest music festivals in the world.
Of course they’re happy about Bonnaroo. It has showered their community with riches, a fair tradeoff for having a whole bunch of people in town for one week in June.
‘When you say industry, people think of manufacturing jobs,’ said Pennington. ‘But we see Bonnaroo as a new industry for us.’
Pennington said Bonnaroo provides a $15 to $20 million impact to Middle Tennessee and nowhere is that money spent more than in Coffee County. With that kind of money, you can tell why officials only have nice things to say when Bonnaroo is mentioned.
‘It’s gotten to where we look forward to it,’ said Superstein. ‘We have 12 people coming to stay at our house.’
Bonnaroo promoter Rick Farman says the festival has created spin-off businesses and that’s something that’s being looked at even more.
‘We’re looking at starting businesses that support the business we already have,’ said Farman. ‘Whether that’s getting a tent company here, T-shirts, or even someone that specializes in port-o-potties.’