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Successful Strut?

142 views · Published 13 June 2012 · 3:09 · Indexed 9 October 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2012 · News & Politics

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by Karen Zatkulak

This year there was a new group behind the Bessie Smith Sturt, new security measures, and a new price. So how many people showed up?Tuesday, the fences were down and the facilities removed at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. Director Rose Martin says while they don't have any numbers, she thinks sales were good. "I know we at least broke even, likely, because that was our whole goal going into it."That would mean covering the 60 thousand dollar price tag for putting on the Strut. While we also don't know how many tickets were sold, Martin says it was a great turnout. "I would say probably 7 or 8 thousand."But others, like the owner of Heiney's Pub, disagree. "We estimate that we sold 25 percent of what we did last year, so sales were way down."Rich Heinsman says they didn't sell nearly as much food and drinks as they expected, but they did recognize that the security was strong, and Chattanooga Police confirm there were no incidents or arrests during the event. "Lower volume crowd than in years past but there were no problems that I hear of, no problems that I saw everyone had a good time."He says closing at 8pm hurt the bottom line for revenue and the number in line to strut. He hopes the event will last longer next year. "It was low volume but it was by no means dead, I'll be here next year and hopefully we can do it again harder, and longer, it was still a lot of fun."Martin says we will now exactly how many strut tickets were sold and how much many was made in about a week.

Successful Strut?

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