It's hard for any local business to prepare for an event that brings thousands of people to the centre of Chatham, but restaurant owners are calling RM Sotheby's 40th anniversary/RetroFest a major success and are hungry for more of these types of events in the future.
"Normally the summer weekends are not as strong," said Brian Machado, owner of the Chatham Breakfast House. "The scale they brought this event to... for sure the number of people who were out with their family, that benefitted us immensely."
The Breakfast House is just one of the many local establishments that saw benefits from some 25,000 people who flooded the streets of downtown Chatham over the weekend. Full motels and parties of upwards of 20 people equated to the restaurant earning close to 40 per cent more than it typically would on a summer weekend.
Between Saturday and Sunday, staff voluntarily pulled a 21-hour shift. Some even voluntarily slept in the building for two-to-three hours in order to better accommodate customers on Sunday, said Machado.
"You just don't know on a weekend like that, what to expect," he said. "It was an absolutely wild weekend... kudos to the public for the way they represented Chatham."
Staff stayed at the restaurant into early Sunday morning, not finishing the remaining work until 3:30 a.m.
From the outskirts of downtown on Grand Avenue to the heart of the festival on King Street, businesses close to the event also experienced a heavy intake of patrons.
Lenny Acampora, the owner of Mama Marias Ristorante, said the restaurant, which seats close to 250 people, was packed throughout the duration of the weekend.
"It's a totally different animal," he said of running service during RetroFest. "People all came down at the same time, it was never-ending. I mean you dream of days like that."
Although the influx of hungry customers was welcomed by the restaurant, Acampora said it's tough to prepare an event like the one this past weekend.
"We used our past experience and our numbers to do our ordering," he said. "We knew this was going to be bigger than years before."
The municipality has yet to release the economic results of the weekend. Acampora, however, said it was refreshing to see more life in downtown.
"We even saw the boats on the river again and the different clientele. It was a great mix of diversity and everyone got along," he said. "Everybody supported all of our business... there was something for everyone."