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Blue Ocean festival makes an impact, but locals see a bigger splash next time

 
Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons introduced a documentary he narrated, Trashed, at the Blue Ocean Film Festival on Sunday.
Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons introduced a documentary he narrated, Trashed, at the Blue Ocean Film Festival on Sunday.
Published Nov. 12, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — Billy Causey bought cheese and Tylenol at Publix on Third Street S, enjoyed the eggplant tapas at Ceviche on Beach Drive, ordered pumpkin lattes at Starbucks on First Street S and spent three nights at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront — all while visiting the Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit.

The Key West resident, a regional director for the National Marine Sanctuary Program, estimates he spent $500 during his three days in St. Petersburg.

His trip offers a glimpse at the economic impact Blue Ocean visitors brought to town Nov. 2 through Sunday, attracted to more than 100 films and 120 speakers.

The festival distributed more than 1,500 passes, and between 4,000 and 5,000 students participated from bay area schools, event spokeswoman Cris Drago said.

Many at the festival attended multiple events, so Blue Ocean officials say total attendance — not the total number of people — was around 20,000. That's the same way they measured attendance in 2012 in Monterey, Calif. This year's numbers, Drago said, are comparable.

Local businesses said the event made a difference.

More than 1,000 tickets were sold for films at Muvico Sundial theaters, and about 150 rooms were booked each night at the Hilton.

Blue Ocean is described as a "growth event" by David Downing, interim CEO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater. The festival is returning to St. Petersburg in 2016 and 2018, alternating with its international host, Monaco.

The goal was to draw attention to the area, said Downing, whose organization gave Blue Ocean $150,000 of the $500,000 it got from BP to promote the event. St. Petersburg gave $25,000.

"Being that it was the first time it was held here, they did a really nice job," Hilton director of sales and marketing Janet Hansen said. "The restaurant experienced a little bit of a lift." Along with room bookings, Blue Ocean used all of the hotel's 30,000 square feet of conference space for the week.

Though attendance wasn't near the 30,000 who turned out in Tampa this year for the "Bollywood Oscars" or the 50,000 who came for the 2012 Republican National Convention, Blue Ocean appears to have had more economic impact on St. Petersburg, because all the activity was there.

"We were thrilled with it. We had a number of events. The hotel did well, our event space did well," said Chuck Prather, owner of the Birchwood on Beach Drive. "Fabien Cousteau leased our rooftop bar out and had a party. Our restaurants had quite a few groups from Blue Ocean."

Ticket sales show that 961 people attended films during five of the six days they were shown in four theaters at Muvico Sundial, operations manager Amber Simpson said. Sales numbers for one of the days were unavailable. The theater employed four additional staffers each day Blue Ocean was there.

Juxtapose, an apparel and home decor store in Sundial, saw increased traffic from moviegoers. "I could tell they were from the festival because they were wearing their Blue Ocean badges," owner Lindsay Wesley said.

"We did have an increase in business," said Scott Pepin, assistant general manager of the Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge, on First Street SE between the Hilton and the Mahaffey Theater, where many Blue Ocean events took place. He said the restaurant served about 20 more diners a day than it typically does this time of year. Accents from Australia, Ireland and England were heard.

"We might have had a couple of groups but we didn't see a big bump," said Mark Logan, an owner of Moon Under Water on Beach Drive. "But it was still great exposure for St. Petersburg."

That exposure leads to repeat visits, said Causey, the Key West visitor.

"I kept running into people, many of them with a lot of money, who said they can't believe they had never been to St. Petersburg, and how spectacular this whole area is," he said. "I heard it repeatedly from people who, because of their interests, have been to waterfront locations all over the world in Indonesia or the most beautiful locations on the Pacific. They were so impressed with St. Petersburg."

The festival's reach went beyond downtown St. Petersburg. More than 150 students, faculty and community members gathered at Eckerd College for a lecture by Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives and a marine scientist, whose island nation is sinking into the sea.

"We were really happy with the partnership and we hope it continues," Eckerd spokesman Tom Scherberger said. "It really aligns with not only St. Petersburg's goals, but Eckerd College's goals. Marine science is our No. 1 major."

Contact Katherine Snow Smith at kssmith@tampabay.com. Follow @snowsmith.