Wednesday, June 12, 2013 2:08 pm

From the Murfreesboro Post

MANCHESTER, Tenn. – Bonnaroo Music & Art Festival officials recently released the results of a completed economic impact study showing that the annual event and its avid patrons put more than $50 million into the local and statewide Tennessee economies last year.

According to the study, the festival generated $36 million in direct expenditures and an additional $15 million in indirect and induced economic activity.

The study, performed by Greyhill Advisors, also shows that the economic impact on Coffee County, which becomes the seventh largest city in Tennessee during the festival, was more than $37 million in 2012.

Bonnaroo organizers and attendees contributed more than $580,000 to Coffee County tax coffers in 2012. Of this total, nearly $314,000 was generated by taxes on sales, motor fuel and hotel occupancy.

The festival also generated $2.9 million in taxes that benefited Tennessee. More than $2 million of the total was generated by sales tax on Bonnaroo tickets. An additional $900,000 was generated by the activity of attendees during their time in Coffee County and their travels to and from the festival.

While the festival has a well-earned reputation as a youth-oriented event, members of the largest demographic segment are well beyond their college years: 40 percent are between the ages of 25 and 34 years old, with 31 percent between 21 and 24. An additional 8 percent are over the age of 35, and nearly 1 in 4 attendees earns in excess of $75,000 per year.

Bonnaroo attracts attendees from all 50 states with thousands of international visitors.

Approximately 25 percent of attendees are from Tennessee, New York and Florida, closely followed by Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Canada is the largest origin of international visitors, but attendees also come from Asia, South America, Europe and Australia.