Edinburg’s Texas Cook’Em generated nearly $7 for every $1 invested

Food, fireworks and a festival under the summer sky resulted in Edinburg seeing an almost seven-times return on its investment at this July’s 20th annual Texas Cook’Em: High Steaks in Edinburg.

The Independence Day bash at Ebony Hills Golf Course also featured live music, a car show and — especially — a cook off competition with cash prize purses for winners among the teams that competed.

According to a report last month from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Data and Information Systems Center, it cost a little more than $196,000 to put on this year’s Texas Cook’Em and the festival resulted in an overall economic output of about $1.34 million, meaning Edinburg generated about $6.83 for every buck it put into the event.

That return is ideal, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ronnie Larralde told the city’s economic development corporation board last month.

“Overall, it was a great investment,” he said.

The festival reached that level of economic impact while also seeing significant growth in attendance over the last several years.

According to estimates, just over 15,600 people attended this year’s Texas Cook’Em, which was a little more than the chamber’s attendance goal and significantly more than the lower end of its expectations.

Meeting that goal means that attendance at the event almost doubled since last year and has grown by about five times since 2019, according to the chamber attendance estimates.

“And obviously it strengthens our profile as a destination city,” Larralde said. “It’s another big event to the wonderful things that the city and all our partners with the EDC and the city are doing. And it demonstrates how festival investment can bring an impact into our regional economy.”

The university’s report broke down some of that economic impact.

According to the report, the festival supported 15 jobs and generated a little over $448,000 in labor income.

The festival generated almost $90,000 in state and local tax revenue and a little over $583,000 in terms of the sum of total income and indirect business taxes.

Part of the report broke down Texas Cook’Em spending into separate categories, among them categories like shopping, food and beverage, and transportation.

Hotel and motel spending came in the lowest out of specific categories by a significant sum, at only $52,040 in spending.

The report indicated that despite its attendance growth over the last few years, Texas Cook’Em remains an event for locals.

Of the 15,306 attendees at this year’s festival, the report estimated, only 306 of them came from outside of Hidalgo County.

Larralde said being a one-day event isn’t necessarily a bad thing and the event punches above its weight compared to some larger multiple-day Edinburg events in terms of overall attendance.

“If you sit there and think about it, it’s about a five-hour event. So bring in 15,000 people in a matter of five hours,” he said. “Compared to one of our other larger events, like fiesta Edinburg that brings in about 26,000 attendees in a four-day span, says a lot about the event and what it means to our city and our region.”