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Business booming during Air Force graduation, Thunderbirds show

Posted at 5:39 PM, May 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-23 17:44:10-04

It’s a time of year that businesses in Colorado Springs always look forward to: Air Force Academy graduation and the Thunderbirds show.

This year the two big events are bringing lots of extra revenue to Colorado Springs.

In the Northgate area, businesses are welcoming hundreds of extra customers and for some, thousands of extra dollars.

Trista Aamodt, owner of Kneaders Bakery & Café, said, “It brings in people from all over, so it’s a way to expand our brand…business has been great. I love graduation. I look forward to it. It’s an exciting time.”

Randy Adams, owner of Shots Coffee, agrees.

“We had a heavier than normal early morning rush and I think that was folks coming out to grab their coffee…and their breakfast before they found their locations where they were going to view the flyover…between yesterday and today we’re probably at 600 customers.”

It’s good news for the coffee shop as an average day brings in about 220 customers.

At Fairfield Inn & Suites on Struthers Road Operations Manager Savannah Maciel said, “People started checking in last Friday…we have families from all over staying at our hotel. We’ve been full for days.”

The influx of visitors has brought in a good chunk of change.

“We’re averaging extra thousands of dollars every single night just because of this event.”

The extra money is vital not only for her business, but those across all of Colorado Springs.

Maciel said, “It’s a huge event for the whole city.”

For some of these businesses extra help needed to be hired for Wednesday’s big events, another big economic impact for Colorado Springs.