Atlanta

Local restaurants hoping to cash in on multiple events this Labor Day weekend

ATLANTA — Restaurants are hoping to cash in on UGA’s first game, Dragon Con and Atlanta Black Pride Events.

They are all happening in Atlanta on Labor Day weekend.

These events will bring hundreds of thousands of people willing to spend money.

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They were ready and stocked, said assistant general manager Tasha Alston with Hudson Grille in Downtown Atlanta.

Alston said she knows this weekend will be a big weekend for the restaurant, “Very big. Very big weekend. All hands on deck. This will be an all-hands-on-deck weekend.”

Everyone will be ready to serve the crowd, whether people are here for the UGA game, Dragon Con or Atlanta Black Pride Weekend.

Many restaurants are hoping to rebound from the pandemic.

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“Of course, everybody has seen a drop in revenue. We’re just hoping to rebound from that,” said Alston.

The three big events will all call Atlanta home. William Pate, president/CEO of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the number of people will bring a huge economic boom to our area.

We are talking about potentially pre-pandemic numbers.

“We’re probably about 75% of the way from our 2019 levels. Weekends like this really help all our businesses in the hospitality industry. It really sets up what we think is really going to be a great Fall in Atlanta,” Pate said.

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Virginia Cason with Sports Mania at the corner of Marietta Street and Centennial Olympic Park Drive said she’s ready for fall, because fall means the return of football and the return of fans.

“It’s great to see people back out again after being locked up for so long. We’re excited. We’re expecting a very huge crowd,” said Cason.

Cason said she has lots of UGA Merchandise now, but come Saturday, she’s hoping every item will be gone.

“We have lots of hats; tons of National Championship stuff still available,” she said.

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