DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s one of the busiest times of the year for the Iowa Events Center and the surrounding area as the Casey’s Center plays host to three full weeks of high school state tournaments.
The tournaments bring in teams with thousands of fans who flood to downtown Des Moines, boosting the economic impact.
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Some local restaurants said that it’s great for the big 5A and 4A schools from the metro to make the tournaments, but they make most of their business from teams and fans who have to travel into town. While metro schools and fans can go home in between games, fans from out of town stay in hotels, check out local shops, and dine at a local restaurants.
“We have the schools from out of town that hope to be here all week long because they hope to play all week, and we see a lot of that business, especially after the tournament in the early stages of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” said Heather Henderson with Jethro’s BBQ…