For downtown restaurant owners, a weekend with five Garth Brooks concerts at Pinnacle Bank Arena — and thousands of country music fans coming to town — is music to their ears.
Michael Barton, one of the owners of Buffalo Wings and Rings in the West Haymarket, is expecting a "10,000 percent increase" in sales.
"It'll be something a lot of us have never seen before, as far as business goes," he said. "It's going to be pretty crazy."
Barton said his restaurant has prepared by hiring temporary staff, as well as bringing in the management team from its soon-to-open second Lincoln location and from a sister restaurant in Minnesota.
His primary focus is on Saturday and Sunday, when Brooks will play doubleheader concerts at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. each day.
"There's going to be people in their seats eating and drinking before the second concert when the people from the first concert will come in," Barton said from his restaurant just across the street from the arena. "For us, we're going to do our best to be as quick as possible."
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The Single Barrel, a bar and restaurant at 130 N. 10th St., is also expecting there to be waves between shows. Manager Katie Coates said she's scheduled double the staff she would on a normal weekend.
"We have the kitchen prepping more food than they would for a standard weekend," she said. "We're definitely expecting a big rush."
Early in the week, Coates said more than 70 people already had reservations for Friday night, and Saturday's list topped 100.
Security is also a big issue. With so many people, and many of them consuming alcohol, security will be at levels equal to a Husker home game.
The Railyard general manager, Brian Krajewski, said the entertainment district's management company, a subsidiary of Comcast, has worked with the Lincoln Police Department to determine appropriate staffing levels for events.
But planning for afternoon and evening concerts with capacity crowds mixing outside the arena is new territory for Lincoln.
"It's going to be a learning experience," he said. "But a positive one."
Downtown businesses, he said, should expect to have a very successful weekend.
"They're definitely going to see an increase in sales," Krajewski said. "Whenever you have that extra jolt of people, those numbers uptick."
At the forefront of their plan for the weekend is making sure that everyone coming in and out of The Railyard has a good time.
"We're well-prepared," he said. "We just want to create a safe, fun atmosphere where people can hang out."
