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Businesses excited for Maha's expansion

Posted at 4:45 PM, Aug 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-16 17:45:29-04

Maha Music Festival organizers say the event's 10th anniversary was the perfect time to expand.

"Our attendees, our fans have been wanting an extra day added so we thought in conjunction with our 10th anniversary it felt right to go to two days this year, says Bob Sweet, board of directors of Maha. 

This year's Maha has arguably its biggest lineup yet, with Weezer headlining Saturday night. Hotels in the Aksarben area say they'll be busier than normal over the weekend. Spirit World bartender Tom Pilcher agrees.
 
"It's going to be a lot busier as the day goes on and the festival progresses, towards Saturday night it'll be hopping in here all night long," says Tom Pilcher, bartender.

But, at least one business disagrees,the owner of Beacon Hills declined to go on camera but says festival attendees don't come in and eat and regular patrons don't want to deal with the large crowds. Pilcher says regardless of whether you attend maha, Aksarben is the place to be this weekend. 

“No, it'll be a great time whether you go to Maha or not, you'll still be able to hear the music from out here and it'll be a bit more lively atmosphere than it usually has," says Pilcher. 

Of course new this year is the extra night of music, as Maha will have shows throughout the evening Friday. Businesses are generally expecting bigger crowds and Maha board member Bob Sweet says they're selling tickets. 

“It is new to us this year, ticket sales we're very happy with ticket sales for Friday, so we're expecting a pretty large crowd," says Sweet.

In terms of exactly how many will be attending, Sweet says last year they got 9,000 in attendance and he expects something similar for this Saturday, and in terms of the Friday show, that's still unknown.