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"It's a big impact," said Bettye Adams, owner of the Alaskan Hotel & Bar, a favorite hangout for festival musicians. She said the money comes at a crucial time for businesses like her own.

"We're coming from the winter when everything is such a struggle and everything is hard. It's a burst of money," Adams said. "(Folk festival week) helps me get through the winter so I can buy supplies that I need for the summer."

Musicians and fans came from the far reaches of the state, and the country, including this year including Bethel, Nome, Seattle, and Montana, said Linda Frame, president of the Alaska Folk Festival board. The festival was bigger than usual this year, at least in part because Nanci Griffith was the featured act. She's the most well-known musician to play at the festival to date.

"We had record crowds on Thursday night, and tonight we're plumb full once again," Frame said. "I see a lot of folks in town that haven't made it to town in a few years."

The nonprofit festival organization had about 1,000 members in April, and has been gaining more during this year's event, Frame said. They also sold out all the festival T-shirts, mugs and other merchandise.

"We have a guy that came all the way from Bethel. I think it cost him $900 to come play for his 15 minutes," she said.

Though visitors to the folk festival don't have a reputation for being high-end spenders, Vicki Van Fleet from the Juneau Visitors and Convention Bureau said the festival offers a "huge economic impact" to Juneau. The sheer number of festival-goers, and the fact that they stay several days, add up. While some sleep at friends' houses or at the youth hostel, many downtown hotels also fill up. And whether they're shopping at the local grocer or taking up tables at downtown restaurants, they all have to eat while they're here.

"If you figure 300 people for three nights, it's an impact. You do the math," said Van Fleet. "With the trickle down effect, it's money that goes into the city coffers."

It's not just the cash, but the timing of the festival that makes it important for local businesses. Folk festival brings revenue in April when little else is happening. The legislative session is winding down and the cruise ship season hasn't started.

Folk festival week is busier than most midsummer weeks at Silverbow Bakery, said owner Jill Ramil, making it one of the weeks her business relies on each year.

"People think everyone makes so much money off the cruise ships, but it's not true. (Cruise passengers) don't sleep here and they don't eat in town because they have that included on their cruise," Ramil said. "But we're a restaurant and hotel. Most of your folk festival attendees eat and sleep in town. That's bed tax and sales tax for the city and customers for my business."

Silverbow is one of several downtown businesses that tries to draw festival-goers by offering them space for music jam sessions. When musicians arrive, the workers turn off the canned music and let them play.

"We have a lot of space for people to come and hang out," said Ramil. "Some restaurants want you in and out, but we have so many seats that people hanging out doesn't negatively impact us," she said.

Folk festival also is an important week for many of the musicians. While they play on stage for free, musicians often slip in a plug for their next paid gig or their compact discs for sale in the lobby. J. Althea, owner of The Piano Zone, has set up the table to sell CDs by Folk Festival performers and local and regional musicians during the past 18 festivals. She has 60 to 65 releases in stock and sells about 1,000 CDs at each festival, splitting the profits with the musicians.

"For a small town in a small period of time, that's not bad." said Althea. "I earn a little."

So do the musicians. The top-selling CDs are always musicians who've had a good set on stage, Althea said.

When the main stage performances end at Centennial Hall somewhere after 10 p.m., musicians and listeners flow through the town and join the late-night bar scene, which means more revenue.

"There is such a selection of entertainers and music that we don't get the rest of the year," Adams said at the Alaskan Hotel & Bar. "Its just a feast of music. There'll be someone on the stage playing and someone else in the back room, or up on the balcony, or in the halls, all playing music. They're all really amazing," she said.

When the bars close and stragglers flow upstairs to the hotel, the rooms stay open and people stand gathered in the halls and doorways to play more music, or just listen. There isn't much revenue from these gatherings, but its become a tradition that almost parallels the festival itself.

"It's good for the locals because it shakes off the winter blues," Adams said.

As for the folk festival influencing economic development, Ramil said she's been trying to develop a special folk festival product: Folk Festival Franks. By Sunday afternoon, they were sold out