Mitchell Kaplan is getting ready for just about the only good kind of sleepless night -- one where countless potential customers stream into his Lincoln Road bookstore.

Kaplan, owner of Books & Books, was around in 2007 when Sleepless Night, an all-night arts and entertainment festival, brought an estimated 100,000 to the streets of Miami Beach. He was also around in 2008, when an encore was scrapped due to fundraising struggles.

So, as Sleepless Night gears up for round two, beginning 6 p.m. Saturday, Kaplan is, like other entrepreneurs and entertainers on Miami Beach, looking forward to some increased exposure at a time when business isn't exactly thriving.

``Anything that can be done to generate some excitement and bring people over to the Beach is always a good thing these days in a down economy,'' said Kaplan, whose bookstore will feature live music and spoken word poetry.

This year: The Titanic will sink and inflatable, 30-foot sculptures will rise in North Beach; recorded sounds will turn into invisible architecture in Collins Park; and pajama-clad racers and giant voodoo gods will parade down Ocean Drive.

When the city envisioned the festival in 2005, part of the concept for the night was to bring tourists to Miami Beach earlier in the season, said Max Sklar, director of tourism and cultural development for the city.

``One of our objectives was to expand the tourist season into November and get an influx of tourists and visitors for the event,'' Sklar said, adding that Beach hotels reported a 12 percent increase in occupancy during the 2007 event.

Restaurants have benefited as well.

Graziano Sbroggio, a partner of Graspa Group, which owns several Lincoln Road eateries, including the Van Dyke Cafe and Spris pizzeria, said his restaurants saw a roughly 20 percent increase in business two years ago during the festival.

And with Halloween being his best night of the year, and tourist season just around the corner, Sbroggio said Sleepless Night may just be the event that pulls his restaurants and others out of the dulldrums of summer.

``It's a sign of the season,'' he said.

Though the event may be a boon for local business, it isn't cheap.

This year, Sleepless Night cost about $675,000, Sklar said. Sponsors contributed about $550,000 to the event, including a $150,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and $75,000 from title sponsor Audi, he said.

The city pitched in funds set aside last year for the event: about $50,000 from the general fund and another $75,000 dedicated to art and cultural events, he said. But the cost is worth it, Sklar said.

``In a time like our current state of the economy, this event is really important for the local arts community,'' he said. ``We're putting additional resources, dollars, into an arts-oriented event that is free and open to the public.

That hasn't been lost on local artists, like Alissa Christine, a Miami Beach photographer who called Sleepless Night a ``playground'' for art lovers.

Christine, whose photo-diary of Miami is to be displayed on screens throughout Lucky Strike bowling alley, said she isn't expecting huge sales but sees the event as an opportunity to reach out past the usual gallery crowd.

And even more importantly, she said Sleepless Night is another huge event that draws people to Miami-Dade specifically for art.

``We have Art Basel, which stimulates attention to the art, and now we added Sleepless Night,'' she said. ``I like it how Miami and the Beach are starting to sort of get on the art map. It's nice for an artist.''

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