Artown impact estimated at $15 million

Artown last week estimated the direct economic impact of its 2007 festival at $15 million.

The festival, which runs through July every year, calculated its economic impact from visitors' spending at hotels, casinos, museums, restaurants, shops and other attractions.

Attendance at Artown events totaled 285,000, an increase of 29.5 percent over the 220,000 recorded during 2006.

In addition, an estimated 65,000 people watched Artown events through Sierra Nevada Community Access Television.

Artown said a survey of attendees found that 87 percent of them said they're more likely to attend artistic and cultural events in the future as the result of their experience at the Reno event.