Riverfest Director Deanna Korte says she’s pleased with turnout for last weekend’s Riverfest festival, which organizers revamped this year to attract better entertainment.
The festival, in its 39th year, recorded a 38 percent attendance decline from 2015, with 140,000 people sampling food, rides and live music at Riverfront Park in Little Rock.
Until this year, the event had taken place over three days during Memorial Day weekend. This year, organizers moved family-friendly activities and entertainment to a one-day event on April 2 called Springfest. They pushed the more adult-orientated entertainment of Riverfest to the first Saturday and Sunday in June.
Riverfest is a nonprofit, and the total budget for the two events this year was $2.8 million, with Springfest produced from money in the existing budget for Riverfest.
Korte said organizers expected the attendance decline amid the new schedule.
“You do need to take into account taking a specific demographic out of the event — we knew that’s how that would be splitting into two different events,” Korte said. “We’re very pleased with how the change went with both events we accomplished.”
Korte doesn’t believe the move from Memorial Day weekend had a negative effect on attendance; she expects the change is something attendees will have to get used to. Instead, she blames the lower attendance partly on the weather forecast in the week leading up to the event.
“I know that the weather impacted it tremendously,” she said. “It rained the whole week leading up to Friday, and it was 80 percent chance of rain [on Saturday]. Especially statewide, if you think it’s going to be a complete rainout with an outdoor event, a lot of people won’t make that trip.”
She said she thinks the move out of the Memorial Day weekend will be a good one in the long run, with the festival not having to compete with the all the plans that pop up during the traditional kick-off to summer.
“We feel like that was a great change – it will continue to be the first weekend in June,” Korte said. “We were losing people because it was the first three-day weekend of the summer and people wanted to go to the lake.”
While Riverfest will stick with the first week of June, Springfest’s schedule could be more fluid, subject to change based on the timing of spring break and Easter, Korte said. Because Springfest is a one-day event that doesn’t rely on luring national entertainment, it’s easier for the date to change, she said.
Another adjustment to this year’s festival: an increase in ticket prices.
This year’s weekend passes at the gate sold for $50, up from last year’s $40. During last year’s pre-sale, families could buy a four pack of tickets for $40 — an option that was unavailable this year. Individual tickets purchased before the event were $37.50 in 2016 and $25 in 2015. Since 2012, the price of a single ticket purchased in advance has increased by almost 88 percent.
“People are willing to pay the increase for better entertainment,” Korte said. “But just increasing a ticket price for one year doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to bring in Dave Matthews.”
Korte said they expected to see a slide in ticket sales due to the price increase.
Organizers also implemented a new policy that didn’t allow re-entry after 5 p.m. — another change they plan to keep in place next year.
Korte said the success of the event doesn’t simply come down to attendance numbers. Instead, she said that the safety, cleanliness and entertainment value all contribute to what makes it a great festival.
“Little Rock is everything you’d want out of a big city with a little city feel,” Korte said. “The event is clean, the event is safe, and, in comparing it to some other events out there, people want to come back. It should make Little Rock proud.”
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