Case Study: 124 Street BIA proves +$600K festival ROI with spending data

Client spotlight

The 124 Street and Area is a pedestrian-friendly main street corridor in Edmonton that has established itself as a premier destination for local independent restaurants, art galleries, boutiques, and services. Through coordinated beautification, marketing, events, and advocacy, the 124 Street and Area Business Association (BIA) works to strengthen the district’s economic vitality, creative character, and sense of community.

Background

For years, the 124 Street BIA relied on anecdotal stories from the 400+ business owners and manual pedestrian counts to gauge whether the events they conducted were having an impact. While the board believed in the economic value of festivals, stakeholders wanted data to support this, as the cost of hosting events continued to rise.

Challenge

The 124 Street BIA hosts a long-standing street festival, their marquee event, which has run for over 12 years. When the BIA was applying for a grant that required hard economic evidence for the event's impact, the need for data became urgent to help them answer:

• Is the festival still worth the investment?
• Is it driving measurable economic benefit for local businesses?
• Who is the festival attracting—and from how far?

The BIA needed credible, third-party data to justify continued support for the event and build a compelling narrative for grants and stakeholder conversations.

Solution: Moneris Event-Impact Analysis report

After a conversation with the Moneris Data Services team, the BIA learned about the Event-Impact Analysis report, which uses anonymized and aggregated transaction data from Moneris transactions to measure:

• Changes in local economic activity during event periods
• Visitor origin data (based on postal codes)
• Total spend and lift across different categories
• Geographic dispersion of attendees
• Broader regional impact

The team validated that the required dataset exceeded the statistical threshold for generating highly accurate insights, providing both credit and debit transactions in the area. This gave the BIA confidence that the findings accurately reflected overall business activity.

Result

The Event-Impact Analysis report revealed compelling economic outcomes that validated the BIA’s investment. 

Measurable impact:

Significant economic lift and ROI

The 124 Street BIA saw a 15 per cent spending lift in their 38-block area over a 2-week period. This was crucial to understand, as the festival itself is on one side of the business improvement area. Luwam stated, “We looked at the coverage within our BIA, which got an extra $600,000 from an event that cost us $130,000. It's a great return for our efforts.” 

City-wide draw

Postal code-level analysis in the report revealed that attendees were visiting the festival from all quadrants of Edmonton and multiple surrounding communities. This confirmed that the event had become a regional attraction and not just a neighbourhood festival.

“For us to see businesses far from the event benefiting was very important. It proved the festival supports the whole BIA, not just one area” – Luwam Kiflemariam, 124 Street BIA’s Executive Director.

Critical tool for strategy and funding

The data has now become a foundational solution in the BIA’s storytelling and advocacy, with Luwam noting, “This report has been a great tool when I’m out in the community looking for support. It proves the festival is small in size but mighty in impact.” 

124 Street BIA continues to leverage the event-based data to:

• Support grant applications 
• Communicate with business chambers, city councillors and provincial/federal representatives
• Demonstrate the ROI of the festival to the board
• Advocate for continued investment in free, community-led events 

From insight to impact: Powering smarter community investment for 124 Street BIA

Moneris Data Services empowered 124 Street BIA to transform assumptions into evidence, strengthen its grant applications, and demonstrate the tangible economic power of its largest event. With accurate, localized, real-world consuming spending data, the BIA now measures impact confidently—and tells a more compelling story to stakeholders at every level. 

Check out Moneris Data Services to learn more about consumer spending behaviour and the economic impact of an event to maximize your success. 

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Moneris is a leading provider of payment processing solutions in Canada. Our blog is your go-to resource for insights into the ever-evolving world of payments. We cover everything from the latest industry trends and technologies to practical advice for businesses of all sizes. Our blog's mission is to spotlight small businesses and provide resources that help them succeed in today's economy. Blog articles are written by members of Moneris' in-house marketing team with support from internal product and industry experts.