Fredericton businesses are gearing up for a busy weekend as the East Coast Music Awards descend on the city.

The city is expecting the four-day conference and festival from Feb. 7-10 to bring in at least $5 million, said Bruce McCormack, general manager of the Downtown Fredericton Inc. business improvement association.

"That's a lot of money at this time of year," McCormack said. "It's great."

Traditionally, February is a very slow month for bars and restaurants in the capital city, said Doug Williams, the owner of two bars and a restaurant in the downtown.

"This is fantastic for the city," Williams told CBC News. "It will make February a fantastic month for us just in this one weekend."

The ECMAs began Thursday night as many bands began hitting the stages at venues around the city.

"Fredericton's going to be a very hopping place this weekend," said Nathaniel Lamoureux of the P.E.I. band Tim Chaisson and Morning Fold.

The East Coast Music Awards, Festival and Conference honours the best in music from the Atlantic region.

More than 2,500 delegates, including about 400 performers, producers and music industry professionals, are expected in the city. Organizers are projecting that more than 40,000 spectators will attend at least some of the weekend events.

It is the first time the event has been hosted in Fredericton, which will hold a special 20th anniversary concert for the festival on Saturday.

The celebration wraps up with an awards gala at the Aitken Centre on Sunday.

Tickets are not yet sold out for the ECMA events, said Rick Leguerrier, executive producer of the anniversary concert.

"It's like word gets out on the street that, 'Oh I can't get a ticket' and people start saying, 'There's no tickets left,'" Leguerrier said. "There are tickets left for all kinds of things over the course of this weekend, and there's certainly tickets left for the awards show on Sunday night, and there are certainly tickets left for Saturday night."