How many people attend the Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon? Local businesses feel a boost

Macon’s annual International Cherry Blossom Festival brought parades, parties and more to the city’s downtown, meaning more money and tourism for Macon’s local businesses.

But how many people typically come to Macon for the festival? Since 2022, both visitation and economic impact from the festival have increased yearly, according to Marisa Rodgers, the director of marketing for Visit Macon. Last year, the festival saw 186,367 unique visitors. Of those visitors in 2024, 34.7% of attendees were from out of state, according to Rodgers.

Attendance was notably higher than 2022, when 148,126 unique visitors showed up to the events, leaving an economic impact of $3.3 million. Last year’s festival nearly doubled its economic impact on Macon at around $6.1 million, according to Rodgers.

Visit Macon didn’t immediately have updated attendance numbers for 2025, but Rodgers based on the good weather and feedback from partners, she believes the festival exceeded its 2024 attendance.

‘A line out the door all day every day’

Many of the festival’s events were held on parts of Cherry Street and Poplar Street and even though roads in front of businesses on those streets closed for long periods of time, businesses downtown see big boosts in revenue.

Ashley Pardington, the general manager for Fatty’s Pizza downtown, says she always sees large growth in sales numbers during the festival.

“We have a line out the door all day every day when we have the events downtown, so those really help us,” Pardington said.

This year, between March 22 and 23, Fatty’s Pizza saw a record high in festival sales since 2020, with around $7,000 dollars in inside sales and $1,200 in outside sales selling single slices of pizza, according to Pardington.

William Rutledge, the owner of Fresh Produce Records, says he also sees a marked increase in sales during the festival each year.

“It’s pretty considerable. I’d say at least a 20 to 30% increase across the board from our normal just daily averages,” Rutledge said.