EDC opened Friday in Las Vegas with the first day of its 30th anniversary run, drawing a crowd that is expected to push more than half a million festival-goers into the valley over the next three days. The Electric Daisy Carnival is once again being held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the event has become a familiar fixture of the spring calendar.
For attendees like Maria Lopez, the music is only part of the bill. She said she spent about $80 on gas and made two stops to get there, while another driver from California said it cost $140 to fill up a car for the trip to Las Vegas. With AAA showing gas at $4.52 a gallon, some fans said they were juggling fuel, tickets, hotels, transportation and outfits all at once, and a few put total spending at up to a grand.
The festival moved to Las Vegas in 2011, and a look at its economic impact over the 15 years since then shows why the city keeps making room for it. EDC has helped generate more than $1 billion for the local economy, according to the figures provided, as visitors from around the world continue to pour in for a three-day event that reaches far beyond the speedway gates.
That broad appeal is also why the spending comes with a built-in tradeoff. Fans may budget for the show itself, but the journey to get there is part of the price, and this year’s costs are landing as the festival celebrates 30 years with no sign of losing its pull. The next three days will decide just how far those crowds go, but the business case for Las Vegas is already clear.
