Riverfest calls it quits

LITTLE ROCK -- The board of directors of Riverfest, Arkansas's largest and longest running music festival, announced today that the festival will no longer be held. Riverfest celebrated its 40th anniversary in June. At its height, the festival drew 250,000 people to Riverfront Park in Little Rock, but this year's rain-soaked festival lost almost $300,000. A press release, published in full below, blamed competition from other festivals and the rising cost of performers fees for the decision.

"The industry has just changed," DeAnna Korte, the nonprofit festival's longtime executive director, said. When Snoop Dogg headlined the festival in 2012, his rate was $75,000, Korte said. In advance of this year's festival, the rapper wanted upward of $300,000. Riverfest's budget this year for some 30 bands was $850,000. Streaming music's massive cut into album sales' revenue contributed to skyrocketing performer costs, Korte said.

The vast majority of Riverfest's $2.6 million budget was dependent on the event itself. Other than sponsorships, all revenue came from ticket sales and a percentage of sales of food and beer. That made it especially vulnerable to weather. Korte said that, traditionally, 85 to 90 percent of the festival's tickets were sold the week of the event. A bad forecast and rain that didn't let up until Saturday evening spelled doom for the music event this year.

Korte said she expected people to question the festival's decision to move from Memorial Day weekend to early June and to move away from nostalgia acts. That transition came in 2016, following a $200,000 loss in 2015 and significant losses the four previous years. In 2016, Riverfest spun-off the family-friendly Springfest and made Riverfest a music-only event with a lineup that included Chris Stapleton, Juicy J, Grace Potter and The Flaming Lips — at an increased ticket price.

Read more: https://www.arktimes.com/RockCandy/archives/2017/07/18/riverfest-calls-its-quits