WORTH TWP — The booms and blasts at Cooper’s Lake Campground are gone, but the Pyrotechnics Guild International convention and fireworks show seemed to be a booming success for the Butler County economy and for the organization.

Economic impact estimates still are being calculated for the “BOOM & a Blast” shows earlier this month, but Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, said the event likely brought in about $4 million.

That would cover such economic impact that restaurants and motels got and the work other businesses were hired to do at the weeklong event.

“The additional labor, like the extra police and firefighters, the ambulance service and the people that clean the Port-O-Johns. Just think of every little bit of it,” Cohen said.

Many motels were sold out because of the event. Cohen said 6,500 hotel rooms were booked throughout the week.

Katie Zupsic, general manager at Fairfield Inn Butler, said, “If we had 15 more rooms each day, it probably still wouldn’t have met the demand within the area last week, I thought PGI was tremendous for the area.”

In addition to the 75-room motel being sold out all week, visitors at the Fairfield Inn constantly asked for takeout menus for restaurants and suggestions for activities for families. And there was a lot more camaraderie than usual, she said.

Zupsic said the men who spent part of the day setting up displays at Cooper’s Lake had families back at the motel who used their time to do some back-to-school shopping.

“I guess just people making the most of it while they were here,” he said.

Nearby restaurant Rachel’s Roadhouse had different rush times because of the fireworks convention.

“We had a late crowd and an early crowd,” said Michelle Dietrich, a general manager at Rachel’s. “We were very busy before nights of the fireworks, and very busy around 10 p.m.”

However, she said sales came out to be about average that week, with the ebb and flow of the crowd.

Less than a mile from the campground at a Portersville travel center containing a Pilot gas station, Subway and a McDonald’s, it was difficult for management to gauge whether there was more business than usual.

“It’s pretty hard because the I-79 construction really hurt us,” said Linda Campbell, a McDonald’s manager. “I know Friday, the last night, there was a hard time getting parking because so many people were here. But I don’t know if we were busier or if people were just using our parking lot.”

However, at Moraine State Park, only a few miles from Cooper’s Lake, the park staff saw a noticeable increase in visitors. There were about twice as many visitors than the same week last year.

“We probably had about a 50 (percent) to 60 percent increase,” said Dustin Drew, park manager. “Both during the day, during our day use activities, swimming, and all the recreational activities we have, and certainly at night, during the fireworks.”

Admission into the park is free. However, boat and bike rental businesses in the park did not see a big difference in sales.

Cassie Isaac, who co-owns Spokehouse Bike Rental with her husband, said they saw about the same number of renters as they usually do during that week, about 30 rentals from Monday to Friday.

A manager with Crescent Bay Marine Boat Rentals, said there was no increase in rentals.

Cooper’s Lake had anticipated the event for a few years. It installed a fence, upgraded electric and sewage sites, installed a new water well and built a new building in the past three years.

Fred Drezel, secretary-treasurer at the campground, said, “The PGI people overall were very nice. And I do believe they want to come back.”

The event had great turnout for PGI members, too.

“There were some members that said this is the best PGI they’ve been to,” said Dan Creigan, PGI president. “Butler is certainly high on our list of favorable sites.”

However, he said that visitor turnout was lower than expected.

During three of the four public viewing nights, there were 5,000 to 6,000 visitors. On Friday at the grand finale show, Creigan estimated there were about 15,000 visitors.

More than 50,000 visitors had been estimated to come see the fireworks during the week.

Also, there was more traffic than the PGI Convention was used to having, Creigan said. Besides delays in the parking area on busier nights, construction on Interstate 79 northbound near Cooper’s Lake caused some detours and other delays.

Because outcomes for the most part were positive, Cohen hopes the PGI convention returns to Butler County. The next bid is for 2017, and the Butler tourism bureau plans to vie for the spot.