Ticket prices for Little Rock's annual Riverfest music festival have increased 190 percent in the past decade, reflecting rising costs throughout the live music industry, its organizers say.
Referring to the cost to procure bands, Riverfest spokesman Kelley Bass said "that's 100 percent the reason [ticket] prices go up."
Riverfest announced its lineup Thursday, along with two-day ticket prices of $43.50 when purchased early online, including fees, for concerts June 4-5. Bass said the cost for tickets bought at the gate in June had not yet been decided.
A separate ticketed event -- offering wine and craft beer -- will be held at the River Market pavilions from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. June 3.
Riverfest -- this will be its 39th year -- is an annual music and arts festival that draws more than 200,000 people annually. The festival is run by a nonprofit organization and 3,000 volunteers who partner with other nonprofit groups and with Arkansas corporations.
Profits help pay for improvements to Little Rock's Riverfront Park and its amphitheater. One dollar from each ticket sold goes to the city of Little Rock. It has donated more than $1 million since its founding, including a 2015 pledge of $150,000 toward installing a new roof on Little Rock's First Security Amphitheatre, which is used as a Riverfest stage.
Ticket prices at the gate for the past two years have been $40.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette records show the festival began charging a $1 admission in 1990. Ticket prices went from $3 to $5 in 1999, and have steadily increased every few years since.
This year, organizers for the first time said they would hold the music festival in June instead of over the Memorial Day weekend. A separate, free event called Springfest will be held April 2 with traditional family-friendly attractions.
"We felt like we were pricing some families out of Riverfest," Bass said, adding that individual concert ticket prices for each of the headliners was comparable to the cost of a two-day pass.
"If there's one band you like, you're getting a great deal," he said.
According to prices currently listed on StubHub, individual concert tickets in May to see Riverfest headliner Chris Stapleton range from $35 to $80. The Flaming Lips, another headliner, have prices averaging $55 in May.
"Since 7 a.m., when we announced the lineup, we sold tickets from people in 23 states, and some from overseas," DeAnna Korte, executive director of Riverfest, said about 5 p.m. Thursday.
In another change this year, patrons with a wristband will not be able to leave the event and come back in on the same day. Tickets for a VIP package, which allows for re-entry, cost $520.
Bass said the change was made in part due to security reasons, calling the checking of wristbands throughout the day in recent years "chaotic."
"It's just been a nightmare at the gate from a logistics standpoint," Bass said. ""It's something we probably should have done years ago."
The festival will be at Riverfront Park and the Clinton Presidential Park in downtown Little Rock on the banks of the Arkansas River.
The lineup for Little Rock's annual Riverfest music and arts festival is:
• Chris Stapleton
• The Flaming Lips
• Goo Goo Dolls
• Cole Swindell
• Grace Potter
• Kelsea Ballerini
• X Ambassadors
• Juicy J
• George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
• St. Paul & the Broken Bones
• Brothers Osborne
• Barrett Baber
• Judah and the Lion
• ZZ Ward
• Givers
• The Sheepdogs
• Andy Frasco & The U.N.
• New Breed Brass Band
• Knox Hamilton
Korte said next week, days and times of the concert performances will be listed on Riverfest's website, riverfestarkansas.com.
Metro on 03/18/2016