MACON, Ga. — People from all over are bringing their excitement to the Macon Centreplex as they watch their favorite teams compete in the Georgia High School Association Basketball Championship games.
"I am super-excited for today's games," Felicity Felder said.
Felder drove all the way to Macon from Albany.
She is one of the many people expected to boost revenue in the city throughout the 4-day tournament.
Vice president of marketing for Visit Macon Valerie Bradley says she's looking forward to the event for many reasons.
"We are excited -- anytime we have an event that comes to Macon, it gives people the opportunity to come into the city and experience the event," Bradley said.
It also brings Macon businesses more customers.
"In previous years, we had estimated around a $300,000 economic impact for the city during that time over each of the days," Bradley said.
She also says this year, they are unsure of what the economic impact will be, due to the pandemic, but they are still expecting a good crowd.
"We are definitely anticipating increased traffic and business, but we'll know more once the event is over," Bradley said.
Kaitlynn Kressin is the Director of Marketing for numerous downtown restaurants, and she says sales have been low since the pandemic began, so they look forward to big events such as this one to bring in more revenue.
"When people come from out of town, they're looking for places to eat, they're looking for locally-owned restaurants to visit, so we really appreciate Visit Macon working so hard every day to bring these conferences and events to our town," Kressin said.
The GHSA state basketball championship matches run through Saturday, March 13th.