Wichita's Riverfest moved to June for 2011

June 22, 2010|By Rebecca Gannon | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WICHITA, Kan.) — Wichita's Riverfest is moving. Instead of taking place in May, as it has for years, the nine-day festival will run from June 3-11, 2011.

Organizers say cold temperatures, rain and storms hurt attendance this year. In order to minimize disruptions caused by weather, organizers are pushing next year's festival back a month.

"We believe this change will give families more opportunity to come enjoy the festival without the conflicts arising from school activities so prevalent during the month of May," Wichita Festivals Board Chairman Tim Richards said in a statement.

The weather's just one reason for the move. It decreased attendance numbers, and therefore cost cost the festival $200,000 this year.

"Mother Nature did us no favors this year during Riverfest," said River Festivals President and CEO Janet Wright Tuesday afternoon. This spring, Wichita's Riverfest felt less like a festival, and more like a river.

"I probably only attended the food court once or twice," said Kelly James, "because of the rain and the wet conditions." The Riverfest regular says she's gone to every one for as long as she can remember. Usually she stays longer than just a meal.

But James was like a lot of attendees in 2010. "We did see a dramatic decrease in the number of people who attended this year," said Wright. Attendance was down more than 50% than in years past; 160,000 compared to more than 300,000 a few years ago. Profits took a similar dive. Riverfest fell into a more than $200,000 deficit.

Now, the 40 year tradition will change, moving to June 3-11, when kids will be out of school. Moving Riverfest to June means moving events to June as well -- like the River Run.

Race organizers say they don't think they'll lose any participants. If anything, they think they'll gain participants. Because even though it's a warmer month, it's also a time when people have fewer obligations, and therefore, more people who can race.

"I think it's a good idea," said James. "Hopefully, everybody will be in town, and not on vacation yet. But give us the opportunity to enjoy some dry events." That's what organizers, and vendors, want too. Dry events, more people, and more profits.

Organizers of the Smoky Hills River Festival in Salina wonder how the move will affect them. The last three days of Wichita's Riverfest will overlap with the Smoky Hills Festival (June 9- 12).

Smoky Hills organizers say they will have some competition for people because of the date change.

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