Two Step Inn returns: Georgetown locals weigh in on festival's impact

Leading up to the festival, San Gabriel Park is transformed into an outdoor music venue with stages, concessions and merchandise booths.

“When we dreamt up Two Step Inn, we knew that it had to be in Central Texas but outside of Austin,” Bartkus said. “When San Gabriel Park was put in front of us as a potential candidate, we immediately fell in love.”

The Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel & Conference Center is about 1 mile from San Gabriel Park, General Manager Rita Healy said. The hotel can book 222 rooms, but the night of April 5 has a demand for 700, she said.

While Two Step Inn attracted thousands of visitors in April 2024, data shows the hotel occupancy tax activity in March was higher. According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, hotel occupancy taxes—a state charge of 6% per hotel room—has a one month delay in reported hotel tax activity.

A Georgetown official said tourism trends drive hotel tax increases, and factors behind spikes can be challenging to identify. March and summer 2024 hotel tax spikes can be attributed to spring break travel, conferences, events and family vacations, the official said.

During the first year of Two Step Inn, the city of Georgetown experienced a dip in sales tax in April. A city spokesperson said the 2023 dip was unrelated to Two Step Inn and due to a performance decline from a local company in the building supplies and retail sector.

Additionally, the city official said the festival’s vendor sales taxes were initially incorrectly reported in 2023 and did not show until December.

There is a two-month delay for reported sales tax activity, an official with the Texas Comptroller said.

The lineup

View the full 2025 Two Step Inn map here.

What they’re saying

The two-day event attracted about 60,000 people in 2023 and 63,000 in 2024, Bartkus said. This year, her team is preparing for 70,000.

“The lineup of the festival has gotten better and better every year,” Healy said.

Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder said he’s enjoyed attending the festival both years since its inception.

“I’m in the front row, screaming my head off,” Schroeder said.

After locals said tickets ran out too soon, C3 began offering presale tickets for residents.

Taking a step back

A “logistical nightmare” occurred in 2023 when a cell tower went down the night of the festival, Schroeder said. The downed tower caused problems for people trying to schedule rides home, Parks & Recreation Director Kimberly Garrett said.

“This year, we made a commitment in our contract with C3 that we would work to get better cell coverage,” Garrett said.

Officials have purchased portable cell towers on wheels—or mobile towers providing temporary cell coverage—and are working closely with cellphone providers to improve signal at the park, Garrett said.

Nonprofit Friends of Georgetown Parks and Recreation is the official presenting sponsor of the festival, Garrett said. The city of Georgetown contracts with the nonprofit and in turn, Friends of the Park subcontracts with C3, allowing C3 to make an annual donation back to Friends of the Park, Schroeder said.

The past two years’ donations from C3 were $1.1 million and $1.2 million, respectively. Garrett said Friends of the Park uses the donations to give back to the community.

Garrett said Two Step Inn's donations have helped support several Friends of the Park initiatives, including:

• $500,000 for purchase of Southeast Park
• $50,000 for Parks & Rec scholarships, programs and memberships
• $5,000 for a permanent StoryWalk in San Gabriel Park

The impact

The festival brings both opportunities and challenges to the area, said Jen Bradac, president of Georgetown’s North Old Town Neighborhood Association. Bradac said she’s working with C3 and city officials to regulate unauthorized parking in her neighborhood during the event.

Bradac said neighbors are generally receptive to the festival, but nearby businesses experience a decline in customer traffic during the event.

“[With] the money the festival brings to Georgetown, these businesses should not be losing money,” Bradac said.

After becoming concerned the festival would negatively affect The Palomino’s first full year of business in 2024, Kurkowski said she reached out to the city. After negotiations, C3 offered her and other local businesses a VIP spot in the food court last year.

“They told us to prep for up to 3,000 people,” Kurkowski said. “We only had maybe 300 sales total for the whole weekend. I lost a significant amount of money.”

Nina Regalado, general manager of The Golden Rule, a restaurant in the downtown square, said the restaurant saw a surge in customers during the festival’s first year.

“I think it’s a great concept. I think this town needed more spotlight,” Regalado said.

This year, C3 is giving 20 local businesses free giveaway tickets and will highlight the companies on social media ahead of time, Bartkus said.

Additionally, C3 will purchase staff meals from local restaurants during festival setup and highlight businesses staying open late on a jumbotron at the park, she said.

Quotes of note

“As far as the local business owners, it's not helping us. For us, it would be better if they didn't have the festival,” Kurkowski said.

“It's all about the long game. ... There's just no denying the number of people that we've drawn to the square on a daily basis, year over year,” Schroeder said.

Looking ahead

City council approved a renewal agreement with C3 in May 2024, which ensures the festival will return in 2026 and 2027.

“We didn’t think that there was any chance a town of our size could get a festival like this,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder said C3 officials told him the longer runway they have to plan the event, the heavier they can invest into the festival. Schroeder said at some point, C3 might ask the city to schedule the festival across two weekends, but city leaders are sensitive to shutting down the park for more time.

“If it’s in one additional week of closure from where we’re at now, but it doubles the amount they give to the parks foundation—if not more—then I think we’ve got to at least look at it and do that math,” Schroeder said.

Bartkus said for now, staff is ensuring the one weekend event improves each year.

“We are very happy to call Georgetown home, and we’d like to continue our partnership with the city for the foreseeable future,” Bartkus said.