BOISE - Not only was this past a weekend big for basketball with the first and second rounds of March Madness kicking off but it proved to be big for local business.
"March Madness is really indicative of that growing economic vibrancy were seeing in downtown Boise. Busy is the new normal down here," says Lynn Hightower, the Executive Director of the Downtown Boise Association.
And this past weekend was no exception.
Hightower says that of the 1,800 hotel rooms in the core area, there was little to no vacancy starting this past Wednesday through the weekend.
"An empty hotel room was very difficult to find," says Hightower.
Of all the different visitors in town for the big tournament, bar manager Marty Zahn at Old Chicago says Gonzaga fans who were out and about downtown made for a significant increase in sales, along with other visiting tourists.
"I guess to put it in perspective, last week’s sales alone were about almost the month of February, so we increased by about 70 percent in sales," says Zahn.
Zahn says this weekend was also great for publicity.
"One of the Gonzaga coaches was on MSNBC and they asked him what he did in his down time and he gave us a plug that he came in Old Chicago and watched the tournament," says Zahn.
Local donut shop, DK Donuts also got plug this weekend when Kentucky coach John Calipari touted the shop during a press conference and in a tweet to his 2 million followers.
"This guy got me coming back to eating donuts. I don't eat donuts, but they look at my body and they say he eats donuts," says Calipari.
And even more good news for those businesses, the tournament is coming back to Boise in just three years.
"Obviously what that tells us is the ESPN folks, the school representatives that are here, as well as their fans, and the Boise State folks, everyone had a great experience in downtown Boise," says Hightower.