LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CelebrityAccess) — After a 40-year run, organizers for the Little Rock, Arkansas-based Riverfest music festival is calling it quits.
“We can no longer deliver the experience that Riverfest fans have come to expect,” DeAnna Korte, the festival’s executive director told Little Rock's CBS affiliate KTHV. “Rising costs of performers’ fees, coupled with a greater number of competing festivals around the country are the underlying factors leading to this decision.”
“With our bills paid, and our heads held high, we are closing the doors,” said Riverfest board member Cheddy Wigginton, added.
The festival, held annually on the banks of the Arkansas River in Little Rock, was the largest single event in the state. Organizers for the event cited increasing costs and competition as the primary reason for the cancellation of the festival.
“For a nonprofit like Riverfest, it’s about income vs. expenses,” Korte told KTHV. “We are a very small market, and there are larger music festivals surrounding us. The festival market is very crowded. It’s hard for a nonprofit to compete in a growing market of for-profit festivals, which are driving up prices and making it difficult to secure artists.”
The 2017 edition of the festival, which took place from June 2nd to June 4th, featured a lineup that included Billy Currington, Wiz Khalifa, Cold War Kids, Cage the Elephant, Morris Day & The Time, Grouplove, and The Joy Formidable among others.
