IMEC boosts Peoria area economy

PEORIA (25 News Now) - The Illinois Music Education Conference brought more than twelve thousand students and teachers from across the state to the Peoria Civic Center Wednesday. The event lasts four days and the Peoria economy will receive a boost because of it.

“It’s pretty exciting. This is my first year,” said Joseph Versluis, a high school student musician. “I have been looking forward to this. Overall, it’s been a really good experience.”

The IMEC features the state’s best high school musicians, and it brought nearly $3 million dollars in revenue to local businesses.

“That translates into tens of thousands of dollars of direct economic impact to local municipalities. That doesn’t include the spend. The spend is far greater than that,” said Discover Peoria President & CEO J.D. Dalfonso. “All that over a three or four-day span accumulates to not just great economic impact to downtown Peoria, but that’s for the entire region for this conference.”

The festivities will conclude on Saturday when students perform inside the Peoria Civic Center’s main arena.

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