NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — What was supposed to be the biggest event in Nashville’s history lived up to expectations. “We couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” said Butch Spyridon, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.
The night sky lit up with 400,000 pounds of explosives for more than 350,000 onlookers this Fourth of July. “I’ll be shocked if anybody had a show this big and if they did good for them - and we’ll beat them next year,” said Spyridon.
Artists performed on two stages throughout the day, with Brad Paisley rounding out the night. Fireworks were set to begin immediately after his free concert, but audiences experienced a fifteen-minute delay. “The public realized and we quickly went to the PA and made some announcements to assure people that this was intentional and it would be a few minutes,” said Spyridon. "I was ready, I didn’t care for the fifteen minutes.”
More than 1,000 law enforcement personnel were on hand and13 arrests were made for things like public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Now as visitors return home, their economic impact is still being felt.
“Probably most importantly we put a lot of people back to work and we drove a lot of sales tax revenue for the city and the state,” said Spyridon. “I think this event did us a world of good in terms of Nashville is open, Nashville knows how to entertain, and we do events as well as anybody in the country.”
He said they're already planning for next year's event.
