Restaurants and hotels prep for One Direction fans

The One Direction phenomenon draws crowds by the tens of thousands and with the British pop stars playing the Sun Bowl Friday

The streets will be swarming with fans, parents and out-of-towners
Nearby hotels like the Hilton Garden are feeling the business boom.
“As soon as the One Direction concert plans were announced we started making plans immediately” said Hilton Garden manager Michelle Kaip.

Kaip said fans have already booked every room in the hotel.

“We are seeing a lot of regional folks coming in that two-hour, three-hour drive into El Paso. I spoke to somebody from Carlsbad earlier today, so we are seeing that regional market wanting to come in and stay overnight,” said Kaip.

Restaraunts within a 15-minute drive of the Sun Bowl are already bracing for the impact.
“We’re typically busy on Fridays so adding One Direction, especially One Direction we’re definitely seeing an increase in sales,” said Cabo Joe’s manager Jonathan Carillo.

Carillo said they’ve been preparing for the day, weeks in advance.

“We have to get more staff in here, we have to order a little bit more to carry us through the weekend,” said Carillo.

“Any group with that kind of scope coming through is pretty exiting for El Paso especially for the area around Mesa Street,” said Mesa Street Bar and Grill manager John Mendoza.
Mendoza knows wherever youngsters are, parents are somewhere near.
“It would be great to see parents dropping off their kids at the concert and coming and having a nice dinner, a bottle of wine waiting for their kids to come out,” said Mendoza.

“It’s great for local businesses, it’s great for El Paso. Progress is always good and you always want to see progress.”