Braddon is reaping the benefits of Summernats, with a fringe festival on the streets of the suburb running alongside the car festival.
The Braddon Fringe Festival runs from 2-4 January from 5-11pm.
It offers up a glimpse of cars, food and drinks, live music and an opportunity for Summernats attendees, and the public, to socialise.
It is the busiest week for Braddon chicken joint, Fricken, co-owner Mo Saad said.
“We’re a local family-run business, as are many others on Lonsdale Street, and it’s a great economic boost for us,” he said.
“For hospitality, it is typically a little bit quieter during the January period, so something like this gives a really good boost.
“Year-on-year we get a record for that particular week and we’re also expecting another record this time.”
He said the record was so high the hospitality venue “chased” the record the entire year to try and beat it.
“Which is really hard to do. You don’t often get 30-40,000 people on the street looking for a feed,” Mr Saad said.
It is also the busiest week for the Braddon Grease Monkey, venue manager Rocco Mollica said.
“Nothing comes close to it. We have extra staff and we get security for the week which we don’t normally have,” he said.
Mr Mollica said it was great for Braddon to be selected to host the festival.
“As much as the residents probably don’t like it, I think it’s great for the small venues and businesses on the strip. It sets us up for the year,” he said.
Mr Mollica said the venue offered food and drink specials during Summernats.
Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said an expected 30-40,000 people would attend the free festival across the three nights.
“It’s certainly well attended by the Summernats spectators, but also become a really good one for local residents to come in and enjoy a bit of a taste of Summernats, which hopefully we’ll get booked into Exhibition Park next year,” Mr Lopez said.
ACT Policing detective inspector Mark Steel said there would be increased police presence in Braddon, as well as inside and outside of EPIC for the duration of Summernats.
