Some local businesses are saying “The Goonies” 30th anniversary made more of a splash in Astoria’s local economy than this year’s 40th anniversary. The Astorian file photo

Some community leaders and local business owners were disappointed

From Thursday, June 5 to Sunday, June 8, some 8,000 to 15,000 fans from across the world were expected to arrive in Astoria to celebrate “The Goonies” 40th anniversary.

Hosted by the Clatsop County Historical Society, the four-day celebration featured multiple events, including bus tours, an ‘80s prom and sold-out panel discussions with some of the movie’s cast and crew.

With the anticipation of up to tens of thousands of fans, many local businesses expected high sales and foot traffic.

But now that the magic dust has settled, some local business owners and community leaders have expressed mixed thoughts over the weekend’s disappointing or successful financial impact.

Local shopowners weigh in

For Saara Matthews, owner of Finn Ware, a downtown gift store of Finnish and Scandinavian products, expectations for sales were set low because she knew fans would gravitate more towards Goonies-themed items and places.

“I went into the weekend with pretty low expectations,” Matthews said. “Finn Ware isn’t really a ‘Goonies’ place.”

Even though Matthews ordered a few Goonies-themed items, in preparation for the anniversary, she didn’t want to bank on it.

Matthews was surprised her business had “a good weekend.” About 20% of her sales between June 5-8 were from the anniversary weekend — compared to a smaller percentage of Goonies-related sales on a typical weekend.

However Matthew said some local businesses told her they were disappointed.

“They (local businesses) kind of had braced themselves for this really busy weekend and it didn’t quite happen,” Matthews said.

Matthews also said that some people expected the city to be a “mad house” during the weekend, but, again, that was not the case.

Located two blocks from The Goonies house and also featured in the movie, the Astoria Coffee Company expected to be busier than usual during the anniversary weekend, according to owners Pete Aiken and Sara Moot.

Aiken prepared extra inventory and expected — and received — a financial boost.

Local hotels: No vacancies

Located on Marine Drive, the Atomic Hotel had a sold out weekend.

According to General Manager Andrew Oberembt, the hotel is typically full during summer weekends. But this year was different because the hotel was full “quite a number of days before and after The Goonies weekend with Goonies fans.”

For a room at the Atomic Hotel during the anniversary, prices ranged from $109 to $129 for the weekdays, while rates rose some for the weekend.

“For us the rates didn’t raise that much for this particular weekend as we knew the significance of it and wanted to make it as affordable as possible,” Oberembt said.

A typical summer weekend could start anywhere from $179, depending on circumstances, according to Oberembt.

Similarly, the Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa saw higher occupancy during the anniversary.

“The event contributed to a welcome midweek sellout on Thursday during the pre-summer season when midweek dates typically see softer demand,” said Linh DePledge, vice president Brand and Communications of Vesta Hospitality.

Cannery Pier also hosted a sold-out Goonies-themed event. In addition to the event, the weekend contributed to a notable increase in food and beverage sales, according to DePledge.

DePledge also said that rates for a room generally start at $350 and go higher depending on demand and room type, but she did not specify on the cost of a room during the anniversary.

Did location and Goonies-themed business play a factor?

According to Quinn Hasse, executive director of the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association, Dead Man’s Isle, a tiki bar located downtown, did “really really well.” Dead Man’s Isle played into The Goonies festivities by selling skull mugs, according to Hasse.

Duane Street, which consists of bars and is the “night life corridor,” saw heavy foot traffic and also did “pretty well,” said Hasse.

However Hasse said that local galleries saw lesser foot traffic because they aren’t located on the main streets of the city.

Hasse said it was the businesses that tried to think ahead and plan something special to attract fans that fared the best.

“The ones that had eye-catching visual displays, that were really ‘popping’ and announcing what (they were) doing, I think those ones saw people coming (into) their businesses,” Hasse said.

Executive Director of the Astoria Warrenton Chamber of Commerce David Reid said fans knew what they wanted.

“They probably were above average spenders because they all want to go home with some kind of keepsake, but they’re very specific spenders,” Reid said. “They want something that is Goonies themed.”

Reid also said the businesses that did well either had something the fans were looking for or, similar to Hasse, did something visible to cater to them.

“What these things (anniversaries) do is create opportunity. … It is their job as a business person to take advantage of that,” Reid said.

Reid said some restaurants and businesses located on the waterfront and in the downtown area received higher foot traffic.

Expectations: too high?

However, Reid said the businesses that anticipated being busier, but weren’t, had high expectations.

“The ones (business owners) who didn’t do as well, in some cases had an expectation beyond what was broadcast and what was real,” Reid said. “Some of them said ‘we thought there were going to be 60,000 people in downtown.’ It was never going to happen. There was never going to be 60,000 people in town.”

According to Hasse, he was told by a local official that the Astoria Police Department was staffing officers to help with a crowd of 30,000 people.

But according to several community members who spoke to The Astorian, locals were expecting big numbers — anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 people — because of the outcome from The Goonies’ 30th anniversary in Astoria.

“I think people were basing a lot of their expectations on what it was during the 30th year anniversary,” Hasse said. “I was told there was bumper to bumper traffic (during the 30th anniversary).”

However Hasse heard some other “aggressive estimates” such as 20,000 to 30,000 people because at the time of the anniversary, media outlets were covering the news on the movie’s sequel and some castmates were on press tours.

For those reasons, some local businesses were bracing themselves for big crowds, but didn’t see that come through, Hasse said.

“From the feedback that I got from at least a handful of individuals, I think the concern was most that they (businesses) spent money upfront to either bring in new inventory or staff extra people …. and they just didn’t see the sales that matched the amount of work,” Hasse said.

According to Mac Burns, executive director of the Clatsop County Historical Society, there isn’t a way to keep track of how many people actually came for the anniversary.

“It’s really tough to do because you can’t just look at the hotel occupancy,” Burns said. “The Goonies celebrations have always fallen on the same weekend as local high school graduations.”

Despite the numbers and sales, some community members viewed the anniversary as an overall benefit to the community.

For Matthews, she believed the anniversary would help the community, as fans would go to restaurants and shop downtown — for it to all possibly result in fans wanting to visit Astoria again to see all the “neat things” the city has to offer.