All Star Week Packs Downtown Restaurants, Hotels

The city of Montgomery says about two thousand coaches and players made the trek to Montgomery just for All Star Week.

That means big business for restaurants and hotels.

“The downtown has been a good atmosphere especially, all the time people are going to Dreamland restaurant, then having the alley and a big atmosphere, overall as a whole it’s been great,” said Deshundra Whetstone, a visiting coach from Alexander City.

The downtown skate park was recently demolished to make room for a Staybridge Suites hotel.

Director of Tourism Meg Lewis says this is just another sign of the city’s growth.

“Not just one time events, but the sustained high occupancy numbers over the last, really, year have been what’s drawn this attention from parties that want to bring more hotel properties, again not just downtown. We have them being announced across town. So across the city we’re seeing this growth,” said Lewis.

Some say this is the most crowded they’ve ever seen the downtown for All Star Week.

That does come with some complications.

“I think they do a really good job. The only thing I think they have to work on is the parking. You just have so many coaches here and parking is a tough thing to get. As far as facilitating everything else it’s unbelievable,” said Opp coach Brent Hill.

Some of the parking problems may be solved once the new downtown hotel is completed next year.

“I think some of that is growing pains in a way. You start to see more. Of course, these new properties I’m sure are going to bring in their own parking solutions as they’re constructed. I know that they work well with the city to find those solutions,” said Lewis.