Special Event

Riverfest marks 40 years with 4 days of tunes, fun

The 40th anniversary of Riverfest will end with a bang — the traditional end-of-festival fireworks show.
The 40th anniversary of Riverfest will end with a bang — the traditional end-of-festival fireworks show.

Riverfest is turning the big 4-0 and organizers are celebrating with a weekend-long festival designed to bring in the crowds.

"Hopefully -- over four days -- we're offering something for everyone and giving everyone an opportunity to participate," says executive director DeAnna Korte. "We have a community that has purchased tickets, that has come since 1977. We owe them a big thank you as well."

Riverfest

6-9 p.m. today, 5-11 p.m. Friday, 1-11 p.m. Saturday, 1-9 p.m. Sunday, downtown Little Rock

Tickets: Flowing on the River $40; music festival $40 in advance, $55 at the gate, free for children 10 and under; anniversary $5, free for children and Riverfest ticket holders

(501) 255-3378 or riverfestarkansas.c…

The Riverfest celebration officially starts today with the annual Flowing on the River wine and beer tasting and dinner that is a separate ticketed event.

The community "thank yous" start with the Riverfest Picnic, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday in Riverfront Park. People are welcome to come down, eat lunch, ride carnival rides (for a fee), shop and maybe even catch some of the musical acts' sound checks. General admission is free.

Then, on Friday evening and Saturday, the festival really gets going with carnival rides, arts and craft vendors, a cocktail lounge, a beer and wine lounge, the Rock the Dock Super Retriever Series, and a host of other activities.

Of course, the big attraction at Riverfest is the music. Korte says they've made an effort to schedule acts that offer a diversity of style as well as being more up to date. "We've had some great, great artists but I don't believe they were as current as what we've booked the last two years."

To that end, this year's headlining acts are:

Cage the Elephant, a rock band whose "Come a Little Closer" and "Cigarette Daydreams" were hits on the alternative charts, will headline the Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Sweetwater Amphitheater Stage at 9:30 p.m. Friday.

The other Friday headliner, country artist Billy Currington, will perform at 9:30 p.m. on the Frio Light Stage at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave.

Award-winning artist Wiz Khalifa, whose Furious 7 soundtrack song "See You Again" topped the charts, performs at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the amphitheater.

Also at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Arkansas native Justin Moore brings his country act to the Clinton Center's stage.

"If you look at music festivals around the country, the ones that are sustaining, that's the music they're booking," Korte says.

There will be a change this year to the parking shuttle service, which previously has been offered from War Memorial Stadium and a North Little Rock location. There will be only one park-and-ride location: the Verizon Corporate Complex, 1 Allied Drive, Little Rock. Korte says that the new location should cut the ride time considerably.

Riverfest has already demonstrated a lot of staying power and this year's festival will celebrate that with a special Sunday full of activities.

While change is vital to any event that wants to stay relevant, the 40th birthday party will be, Korte says, "a throwback day."

Admission Sunday will be free to music festival ticket-holders, $5 for everyone else, and there will be commemorative buttons and birthday cupcakes while supplies last. The rides, vendors and food will be there for additional fees, along with a lineup of musical acts that includes headliners Amasa Hines and Morris Day & The Time.

Grillmasters will cook up their best beef at the PK Grills Steak Cook-Off, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Meanwhile, the River Market pavilions will display Riverfest artwork through the years while this year's Riverfest artist, Barry Thomas, will paint and then auction off a new painting, 5-7 p.m. Warner Bros. will also set up an interactive movie trailer for its WWII film Dunkirk, set for a July 21 release.

For the children, there will be old-school attractions like the big box city they can build and Bobby's Fence -- a big picket fence kids can paint however they wish.

The fireworks display will draw the weekend to a close at 9 p.m. but first, everyone can participate in trying to set a world record for the most sparklers lighted at one time.

Korte says this will be a chance for everyone to take part in a landmark Riverfest, regardless of whether they're interested in this year's music. "If you don't want to fight the music festival crowds but you want to come and have that festival experience, we're going to give it to you on Sunday."

Weekend on 06/01/2017

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