ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- The city of St. Augustine has a lot of work to do ahead of a two-day music festival in September headlined by one of the hottest bands.
"We're making all the cities in Florida jealous right now so that's pretty cool," said Ryan Murphy, General Manager of Cultural Events for St. Johns County.
The featured act, Mumford and Sons, was highlighted on a national stage Sunday night and walked away with top honors.
Murphy says the band hand-picked the nation's oldest city from hundreds to perform.
"The band actually researched, found out a lot about the city, found out about the 450th celebrations, a lot of the history here, were really interested, picked St. Augustine, one of five worldwide that they're doing this stopover."
Tickets went on sale Friday. The two-day passes cost about $100. Murphy says while several were snatched up right away, last night's Grammys actually sent fans flocking.
"As they were performing last night, that's when tickets sold out for the event," he said. "They're the hottest band in the world right now, album of the year and that was just like a home run for us."
But now the work really begins. Murphy says it will be no easy feat getting St. Augustine and Francis Field ready for 25,000-plus fans.
"I think there are people that are nervous about it but those waters need to be tested. The city is capable of handling that amount of traffic. We are a large, huge tourist destination and that's what we thrive on, that's what our economy is so at any given moment there are a lot more people in that concentrated downtown area."
He says the concert will be a big boost to the local economy. Murphy says he expects when the stats come out about ticket sales, a large percentage will be from out of county and even out of state.
Murphy says hotels and bed and breakfasts have been filling up fast. He says many are already sold out.
