Music fans passing through Squamish to and from the Pemberton Music Festival needing to fuel up on gas, food and caffeine caused record sales for businesses along Highway 99 last weekend.Tim Horton's had never dished out as many double-doubles and donuts as it did on Sunday (July 27) with hordes of fans driving north to watch the UK's Coldplay headline the festival of about 40,000 people, said owner Wes Rafuse."It had an extremely positive effect," he said, adding that the midnight to 7 a.m. shift doubled normal sales and the afternoon shift increased sales by 30 per cent.The mass exodus back to the Lower Mainland on Monday (July 28) caused huge traffic congestion through town. The long wait prompted many people to take a break from their cars and get waited on at Boston Pizza. Sales doubled as customers complained it took them over an hour to travel from the Alice Lake area to Garibaldi Estates, said franchisee Darrell Lesueur."I think they were about ready to eat," he said. "We knew we would be busy but we didn't think we'd be quite that busy."Like Lesueur, Cleveland Husky manager Al Kara increased staff in preparation for the weary gas-guzzling convoy. He said Thursday and Friday were the busiest days for him."There weren't huge lineups but it was pretty steady the whole time," he said. "It wasn't record-setting but it was pretty good."Meanwhile, grocery stores filled up with customers in the early stages of the festival when people were stocking up on food and, most of all, bottled water."We were substantially busier on the Thursday and Friday - nothing out of control though," said Nesters Market's Sean Daly, adding that sales were up about 30 per cent. "Water was the big, big item [] I'd love to see it again next year. The people coming through were great."The burger patties were flying like Frisbees at Wendy's before and after the festival with a big lull in between. Thursday night was really busy but Monday is when sales almost reached record numbers, said part owner and general manager Robert Seguin. People were lined up at 9 a.m. for the store to open at 10 a.m., while the drive-thru and indoor lines were constantly long. Seguin said he was unsure how to predict the rush and the weekend was a learning experience for next year."I thought they were all getting kicked out after the concert on Sunday night so I really thought most of them would be gone. It's good for next year. Now we know what's going on."
