Wichita River Festival officials said this week that they’ll let the public and media officially call the event “RiverFest” this year as part of 35th anniversary celebrations.
Gee, thanks. But is there some reason we can’t just use RiverFest permanently? After all, it’s what people already call the event, and RiverFest is much snappier than the clunky official name.
Don’t you think?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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17 Comments
RiverFest. Call it something flashier like, OzFest and watch the popularity of the event soar…
Speaking of the RiverFest or whatever its called, this blog might be a good place to suggest improvements. So I will begin.
First of all, RiverFest should be held in June after schools are out. Interferring with the school year and student testing is wrong. School is more important than the festival.
Two, RiverFest activities should be spread through the month of June so as not to concentrate activities and crowds in a week.
Three, by proper scheduling, reduce concentration of crowds. Huge crowds are not productive for downtown business and are actually counter-productive to Wichita.
Four, visitors from out of town as well as many Wichitans actually avoid downtown Wichita during RiverFest because of crowds.
Five, change the name of the festival to “Lazy, hazy days of Wichita” to reflect a more laid back atmosphere.
Agree or disagree?
Change the name to “The Festival Of The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster”. Make Connie Morris the Queen of the festival. Make the festival a year-long event, with Connie having to reside as queen over it the whole year . . . no cell phone, no land line, no outside communication, just a vacuous smile and an occasional wave.
Nobody would show up and the city could spend the time and money needed to make the downtown area a place where people would want to be. By that time, Connie would be insane and she could be enshrined in a modern leaded glass case with an inscription that read, “Last of the IDers. Kids, this is what happens to the human mind when it goes against science.”
Run shuttle buses from selected readily identifiable locations in the ’suburbs’ into the downtown area during the big (weekend) days. That way visitors don’t have to try to navigate what can be a confusing maze of streets.
They do something like that for Taste of Chicago and it works well.
I’ll confess I’m not a big fan of the Riverfestival, or whatever. I went the first year I moved to Wichita. My reaction was “ho-hum”. I know this is blasphmy, but if you want to go to a good one, check out the one Salina has in early June. Maybe Wichita would do well to see what it is that makes the Salina event so successful. I’ll travel 90 miles to go to Salina’s Smokey Hill River Fest, but not the few miles to downtown Wichita. What’s wrong with that picture?A suggestion: Get rid of the tickets for the food court. That’s BS!One thing Wichita should look hard at. Salina has a Festival Jam the first night. It’s mostly local, area, and state bands who showcase their talent. It’s not unusual to draw 12,000-14,000 people. We’re talking about a town of about 50,000. Talk about a par-tay!
Ah, I forgot about the lousy parking. Thanks for reminding me, Ben.Makes one wonder what it’ll be like when the Arena goes online.
Smokey Hill River Festival, followed by beer, good conversation, and pizza at The Scheme at 7th & Iron (a real anachronism of a Kansas pizza restaurant: NY style pies served in a totally unself-conscious 70’s ski lodge with a great sound system, an eccentric owner, and his eclectic taste in boomer pop music).
That’s a good call, XXX.
I think it has to do with the setting, Oakdale Park, which provides a constant, “one experience” context for the whole thing. Wichita’s RiverFest, otoh, takes place all over downtown.
I agree:RiverFest: ho humSmoky Valley River Festival: hmmm…ok, maybe
XXX – shuttle buses for Arena events also might be a good idea.
Here is a radical suggestion…for people who are “dissing” the River Festival, volunteer and get involved! DO something, get involved and suggest your ideas. Be prepared to work to implement them.
I have worked as a volunteer before, am signed up again this year, and I find the festival staff amenable to ideas, suggestions, and changes.
So, rather than criticize from home, try getting involved and working on changing it. Simple.
I worked the RiverFest (since it’s ok to say it now) for a couple of years. I do have to give it up to XXX and say that is it pretty boring and old fashion.
JWink’s comment about having it in June is a good idea, but rather than spread it a month, I actually think they should concentrate it to three days.
Remember when they stopped that Block Party (bands playing on the street) for awhile? That really sucked. I believe they brought it back last year.
Also! Don’t charge so much for a button. Just charge $1 and you will have more people buying and recieve more revenue than charging $5 a button. That’s ridiculous.
We need a fresh new perspective. The problem with RiverFest and last years AviationFest is that its ran by Wichita Festivals, Inc. I have nothing personal against them and I know they are the only one in town that deals with festival events, but its ran by old blue hair desperate housewives. I hate to be that sterotypical, but it’s true. We need freash minds to really update RiverFest.
The Ticket thing for the Food Court really needs to go. Also, during the Fireworks, I believe people should be allowed to bring their own coolers, as long as there is no glass bottle and no littering, it should be fine.
Walker, I am ROLLING on the floor after reading your post.
Please, take connie off our hands out here. Support Tim Cruz!!!!!
I’ll meet you guys in Salina if we can agree on a time. Maybe the first WE blog field trip? Remote event? Get out of town for a day event?
Hell, I’ll go anywhere to eat…
Flike, great call on The Scheme. That goes back to my college days when we set The Scheme up. The original owner was part of the old Marymount croud. I think half the hippie crowd at Marymount helped put The Scheme together.
Anybody who makes a trip to Salina should try the place out. Excellent food and nice atmosphere.
It’s just down the street from the “Cozy”, a Kansas landmark burger joint.
I pick and choose my RF events. When the kids were small, the parade was a must. Now they can take their own kids.
I once did the River Run and was part of a Tug of War team. That was the year I took my daughter (about 2 years old) to see the balloon launch. My ex used to always play in the softball tourney, and we’ve always done our best to get to the fireworks on the last Saturday. We’ve done street dances, Old Town, Bathtub Races–watched, not participated but cheered on friends. And most of that time we had to drive 25 miles to get to Wichita. It’s an excuse to actually get out and get some (fresh?) air and exercise.
JWink, as usual, I disagree. June is hotter than May, and most of the well-attended events are on the weekends so do not interfere with school. Compacting the events into 10 days helps to generate excitement and awareness. Crowds are what the RiverFest is all about–taking in a great activity with a couple hundred thousand of your closest friends. The block party–one of the most popular events–draws some of the biggest crowds, no coincidence. And downtown needs people–good for business. If anyone avoids downtown because of the RiverFest it’s the grayhairs. I have never heard a more unmarketable slogan than the “Lazy Hazy Days of Wichita.” Good idea, let’s convince people that our festival is boring and drab!
Ben had a great idea–shuttle buses to downtown from the burbs. Avoiding RiverFest traffic jams might be one way we could wrestle people out of their cars in preparation of the downtown arena.
The best name for the Wichita Riverfestival should be the white trash fest!
Oh yes, god forbid that we decent White folk get together without drugs, rape, riot and affray! If you attend, I will be the 6ft3, 245lb blue eyed Cubano Blanco wearing a Confederate flag on the front of his tee shirt, coconut!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!!
Thanks to Crusader X on his 5 best ways to kill Riverfest. spreading out the events, putting it in june ect. ect. ect. Give some of what he is smoking. As far as people not going down town to avoid the riverfest crowds. That is the point, the crowd. If you don’t like crowds, stay home. The riverfest is a festival of spring, and the return of warm weather to the city bringing people together. The whole point is to get together with a bunch of people and enjoying the city, the river and the other people. If you are not into any of those things, stay home. The riverfest is not for you. That is why I don’t go bowling, I do not like nachos, drunks or wearing other peoples shoes. Is it not enough to enjoy something without tearing it down? The Riverfest is not perfect, but hey neither are you. Just shut your grill, or better yet, shove a funnel cake in it, watch the girls walk by and catch a wranglers game, You will be a better person for having supported your community, instead of dogging it for sport!
Honk out!