NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Hundreds of thousands of people have been in Nashville over the past four days for the CMA Fest.
With the current state of inflation and high prices, many people say they are working on a budget here. Some tourists said they didn’t know this weekend was CMA Fest until they realized how expensive it is to come and stay here.
A couple hit the sidewalk of Broadway so hard that Kayleigh Canavan had to take her shoes off. “They weren’t broken into, and I needed a break,” Canavan said.
She is from Boston and came to Nashville for the first time with her boyfriend, Gaeten Deschenes. “It was amazing,” Canavan said. “I’ve really been waiting to be in Nashville for so long.”
Deschenes bought the tickets a few months ago as a gift and wondered why they were so expensive. “I just picked a random date in June when we were free and it happened to be CMA Fest. “We don’t know why it’s so expensive,” Deschenes said. “When we searched, it was the CMA Festival.”
While here, they tried to get the best bang for their buck. “Where to go, what to do, how to save money and do what we want on pennies instead of dollars,” says Deschenes.
They say downtown hotels cost as little as $500 a night for them to stay 15 minutes outside of the city, and they say the cost has more than halved. They also race instead of using ride sharing.
While they were fans of country music, they skipped the shows at Nissan. “I think we’re planning to go see seven free concerts outside, but I don’t think we’re going to the arena,” Deschenes said.
Other fans also tried to cut costs. One said: “We have a microwave and a fridge to eat in the room.
Meanwhile, some visitors from the UK said it was going big or going home. “After two years of being confined to home, it’s not worth saving a dime to miss out on the best possible time,” Duncan Corps said.
Canavan said her birthday trip to Nashville was everything she was looking forward to. “Absolutely amazing,” Canavan said. “I’m really looking forward to the rest of the weekend and seeing the artists perform live.”
The couple said the prices for food and other things in Nashville weren’t as bad as they expected. They said they saved another $800 by transferring the flight to a smaller airport.
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