Van Tilbury

Director Says Expanding Riverfest is His Main Event

Since taking over as executive director of Riverfest Inc. in August 1996, Van Tilbury has managed to double the size of the 23-year-old event.

Tilbury says the festival, which takes place annually at Little Rock’s Riverfront Park, has grown about 30 percent each year since 1997, putting it among the top 25 percent of festivals nationwide.

Tilbury again hopes to grow the festival beyond 2000, making it an organization that other festivals in the state can learn from.

Tilbury says he’s only built on the foundation that Riverfest founders from the Junior League set. Since he’s taken over as executive director, the event has gone from four stages of music to six. In 2000, Arkansans will be able to enjoy 100 performances at the festival.

Tilbury, raised in Heber Springs, received his bachelor’s in communications from Auburn University in 1991. He then traveled to the University of Arkansas, where he graduated three years later with a master’s degree in communications. He returned to Alabama in January 1994 to work for McMillan Associates, a Birmingham event management and consulting firm. He worked for McMillian until July 1996, when he decided to return to Arkansas and work for Riverfest.

“Event management is very challenging, diverse, exciting, fast-paced, often political and never boring,” he says. “[It] requires knowledge of music, finance, marketing, media, sales and sponsorship, plus the ability to motivate others toward a common goal …”

As Riverfest’s only full-time employee, Tilbury manages two part-time staffs, reports to a 25-member board and works with about 75 volunteers. He makes traffic plans, coordinates promotion and contracts with food vendors, visual artists and performance groups. Tilbury also must recruit about 1,200 additional volunteers for the May festival.

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