Over 7000 people attended the Symphony in the Flint Hills on the Deer Horn Ranch in Geary County earlier this month.
Christy Davis, Symphony in the Flint Hills Executive Director, said that 60 percent of those in attendance were from the Kansas City area, a figure that is relatively common.
“There’s a greater economic impact from the community itself when we bring people from the outside, it’s people who spend money that aren’t local folks; but it’s important that we continue to work to share our message within the Flint Hills itself, because the people who live in the Flint Hills are the ones who are here to protect it,” said Davis.
While the event sells out of tickets each year, Davis noted there are still perceptions to overcome.
“People hear our name, and they have an idea of what a symphony is, and I think it’s very important for people to understand that at Symphony in the Flint Hills at our signature event – it’s the landscape that’s the star of the show,” said Davis. “It’s really about enhancing appreciation for the landscape; and we do that with all different kinds of music.”
With the focus on the landscape, Davis said that the event gives people access to areas of the tall grass prairie they normally wouldn’t be able to see.
“People see some of it when they’re driving on the turnpike, they think of that rolling natural landscape; but there are a lot of places that are very remote that people don’t see,” said Davis. “[You’re] never going to get out into the middle of the open prairie like we provide access to through our event, and we create infrastructure for that.”
Symphony staff build paths and roads giving people access to areas that is “generally on private land.”
The economic impact to the Flint Hills region has been in excess of $100 million over the past twelve years. Davis noted that each year the event is held, it is about a $10 million economic impact.
Approximately 900 visitors stayed in hotels in Junction City or surrounding areas, with over 1150 visiting or spending time in Junction City.