Pretty soon the city of “purple and gold” will be seeing a lot of maroon and orange. Regardless of whether you support ECU or Virginia Tech, it's clear the 40,000 plus fans will be spending a lot of “green” over the next few days.
Lucy Byrd is a Pirate, complete with her own peg leg. Actually, she shows off her real purple and gold prosthetic leg with pride. She takes that pride to the streets outside her store, Piratestuff, and waves to potential customers.
Byrd says with Thursday's big game, she doesn't have to wave for too long. She says, "It's just been one after the other constantly coming in."
Like Aaron Melton. He says, "[I] Wanted to get a black sweatshirt or hoodie for the blackout game tomorrow night."
Byrd says if it wasn't for people like Melton sales would be at least 50% to 75% lower.
The Visitor's Bureau estimates people will spend a bout $3.2 million over Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Hotels and restaurants in Pitt County are expected to see a lot of that green. However research shows the money will go beyond Pitt County.
Debbie Vargas, CEO of the Greenville and Pitt County Convention and Visitors Bureau says,
"The hotel rooms in Greenville are booked and we've made a number of calls to neighboring Washington hotels, so they're booked as well. So it looks like it's not only going to affect here in Greenville but throughout Eastern North Carolina in a lot of ways."
Debbie Vargas says restaurants are also putting together tailgating packages because people will be heading to the game after work. And as far as Lucy the Pirate? She says, “We’re planning to win.”
The Visitor's Bureau says they're expecting businesses to make even more money than they did for the first home game this year.
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