Arkansas Blog

Dumb idea to close the bridge to the great unwashed. Dumb, dumb, dumb. How could any sane decision-making person be so stupid? Let's hope it never happens again.

It's LR, crapping on the little guy yet again.

And who's to blame for the idiotic decision not to run the trolleys & tractor carts across the bridge? And the reason posted "a scheduling conflict" is just ludicrous. What was going on that made the trolleys unavailable? Did the Stephens or Hussman have some shindig on another track? Just ridiculous.

And the North Little Rock police in their officious closing of the main street bridge for over an hour after the fireworks. They claimed it was because of cleaning the fireworks mess. But even when people started streaming across from Little Rock, they tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent us access.

And which organizational genius placed the hottest band in the cramped confines of NLR in the first place. The entrance to that park is too narrow and the NLR police wouldn't allow us to use the ramps.

All in all a very disappointing Riverfest.

The streetcars cant run on the main street bridge after the fireworks are place on the bridge...sparks from 600volt overhead line, you know. streetcars dont run in LR during Riverfest because LR has never learned to do traffic and crowd control....it was tried in 05 and with no support from that side of the river, it is not to be done again until they figure out Peabody Hotel does not really need access from all of Markham Street.

I'm guessing whoever is responsible for closing the bridge also pressured KATV to take the report off their site. When you search for "Riverfest" you get 7 stories....none having anything to do with the bridge closing. When you search for "Junction Bridge" you get two stories about it opening. That's it.

Very sad indeed. - almost every local band that played riverfest got severly ripped off on pay. Many local groups were paid $50 (!). One local band was paid one twentieth (!) of what they received from a riverfest gig three years ago. The folks running this thing at the higher level need to be checked out. Who really wants to see Better Than Ezra? In 2008?! Riverfest could have used that $10,000 to pay homegrown Arkansas talent. I know it 's a non-profit but when you're generating millions of dollars don't insult your local artists please. How depressing.

EY, my guess is that it was never on the site. There is often quite the delay between seeing a report on the news and seeing it on the Web site -- especially when staff is thin on weekends & holidays.

My only real beef is the lack of organization on the NLR side Sunday. There should have been some sort of corridors roped off to allow navigation to the food vendors and to the exit near the Bud Light stage. Instead, anyone with a camp chair could park themselves anywhere they wanted. I know vendors lost money because folks could access them and I can't imagine what would have happened if there needed to be some sort of evacuation or emergency access to the Bud Light stage end of Riverfront Park.

All sounds about right for gubbermint work- incompetence, corruption, and privileged interests at work.

I was told there were some local musicians who performed at the International Village, which was not on the schedule at all. I don't know if they were paid or not. I'm sure it's very disheartening to those players to not even be acknowledged in print.
If they are going to recruit local talent and not pay them, or pay them much less, in exchange for "exposure," they should get that exposure in the program and in the press, not from just the random family wandering by, or the burning sun.

I haven't been in ten years and won't go back for another ten years. It was too damn hot, too damn crowded and after the fireworks, all the people on the Little Rock side were not allowed back to NLR for about 45 minutes. Plus, if you wanted to go somewhere after the fireworks, the ONLY place open was Ernie Biggs and it was packed beyond belief. It was a mess and could have easily escalated into trouble with so many unsupervised teens running amuck. But Robert Earl Keen was excellent.

Over the weekend couple dozen progressives took advantage of the FREE bicycle parking at NLR Main & Washington.

Had they parked several miles away and rode to the event parking at the free bicycle parking and then left afterward they could have slid easily through gridlocked traffic back to their cars where the traffic would have been less congested.

Riverfest by the way does not want to facilitate bicycle parking. They leave those riding bicycles to their own devices and ingenuity to find secure parking. This year Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas (BACA) provided this service for the first time.

I have to say it was mighty sweet slinking through traffic making my way out from Riverfest.

Some parked their cars as close by as Burns park, so that made for a short bicycle ride.

I'm with Nemo. Robert Earl and the band were indeed excellent, and I was congratulating myself for having decided to skip ZZ Top in favor of more down-home Texas music after earlier passing with hundreds of other souls up the jammed Junction Bridge stairway and back down again (what a bottleneck!) for the Boondogs' set (Indy's voice is way better than their songwriting -- sorry, but that's my opinion), then being astounded at the mass of (and all too disturbingly often MASSIVE) humanity gathered for ZZ before traversing the big bridge back to the LR side.

And would later have made a quick clean getaway from a free parking space just a few blocks from the westernmost gate had the chilluns not called to say they were trapped on the NLR side (yes I warned 'em). Which meant a descent into traffic hell. The NLR cops apparently decided it was every motorist for him/her in many cases psychotic self except at selected intersections. We wound up taking evasive action just to get moving, that is, eventually all the way to I-430 by way of Levy town.

Everybody really needs to get a grip. RF is not run as an exercise in exploitation or muscle-flexing. It's a non-profit festival put on by and for the people of central Arkansas.

Bands get paid what they agree to be paid- nobody strong-armed them into playing. If there's anyone who remembers the RF of the 80's and 90's, recall that few bands got paid a dime. That's not a good thing, but the festival supports local music now more than any time in the past. $50 bucks beats free. Anybody playing for "exposure" should know better and stay home.

The NLR side is and will always remain imperfect as a concert venue- it's too narrow to accommodate the masses. Ditto the LR side... it's a sliver of a park along a river band, often less than 100 yards wide. It wasn't made for festivals. Get this: a quarter of a million people pack into a space that was never intended to make convenient experiences for that many people. The only way to change that is to move Riverfest to. where? Suggestions are welcome.

As for transportation, folks, look it up:.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_River ... At 1,469 miles (2,364 km) the Arkansas River is the sixth longest river in the United States, the second-longest tributary in the Mississippi-Missouri system, and the 45th longest river in the world.

It's a huge river, folks, and two very separate municipalities exist on either side. The partnership between NLR and LR ain't that old. Until somebody *pays* for a ferry, transportation between the sides will always involve a quarter-mile trek beyond either river bank. Buses, trolleys, ox carts, whatever... the infrastructure cannot accommodate all of the public thoroughfares, RF transit, and emergency and/or fireworks safety contingencies. I wish it could be more convenient, too, but grown-ups get to make choices every day. Choose your side and stick with it or get ready to hike some. Limitless choice is not a guaranteed part of the ticket price.

I have no clue about the politics surrounding the Junction Bridge. If what happened was unfair, it should be fixed-- it's been open less than a week. I'll bet the kinks can be worked out by next year.

Otherwise, be glad that Arkansas has a first-rate festival with fewer full-time employees than you can count on one hand. It is run by and for the people who live here, and dozens-- hell, hundreds of people gave all or part of their holiday to volunteer to make it happen. It's a bargain, and volunteers make it so... check out Memphis in May for a good taste of festival indignities. Neither the price nor the inconveniences are comparable.

Don't whine... really. Riverfest is your friends and neighbors doing the best they can. If you don't like it, pitch in to make it better. If not, area lakes are open every Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy.

yeahright - my sweet Grandmother used to counsel me to use my mouth wisely and know all of the facts before I spoke. Apparently you don't have a grandmother.

Riverfest making millions! Yeah!

The stated objective of Riverfest is to put in the bank what it will cost to run next years festival. In simple terms for you, that means tents, electricity, headliners, porta potties, the kids areas etc., any fixed cost associated with the festival in the event it rains for four days and not one person shows up. You would also add in any future expansion of the park(like adding the amphitheater many years ago).

If you want to be critical of the festival that's fine, but before you open your mouth again, go down and be a volunteer for 100 hours during this last week and also skip your vacation to the beach this year as most of the Riverfest volunteers have done. I've found though, experts make very poor volunteers.

For future reference, do not try to watch the fireworks from the Big Dam Bridge. You cannot see them from there (which is surprising!). Lots of disappointed people. Live and learn.

I'm wondering if I can get some people together and rent one of the bridges for a private party next year.

The bridge thing needs changed for next year, and I think the shuttle situation needs a review, too. Most of the other complaints (including mine) are not that big a deal, but those two are. Mmm...and maybe more water stands.

You'd be better off renting one of the larger Chris Crafts and staying in the middle of the River.

Kudos to Ron Rizzardi and the BACA folks for looking after bikers' interests. Yes, that's a great way to avoid the snarls of cars after Riverfest. As is living in Argenta (or, I expect, downtown LR). My gal and I made several trips to the fest from my house just six blocks away and never had to park once.

I also agree with John A. Arkansawyer's remarks about more water stations -- in fact, I'm editorializing about that very subject at www.DogtownWire.net and it should be up tomorrrow (Tuesday) for those interested. Just click on the opinion/editorial link at the top of the page.

Finally, anyone who wants to find out exactly what the financial income and outlay of Riverfest is can go to www.guidestar.org, register, and download their IRS Form 990 for each of the last several years and see for yourself.

Goof-
You sound like the expert- talking about peoples grandmothers- I'm sure your grandmother's a very nice woman with lots of wisdom to pass along. Come on, can you honestly tell me that riverfest doesn't "generate milions of dollars" those were my words. Am I lying? hell you should have been paid something yourself. think about all the overpriced beer sales. We all want it to be better- It's nothing personal.

Goof-
You sound like the expert- talking about peoples grandmothers- I'm sure your grandmother's a very nice woman with lots of wisdom to pass along. Come on, can you honestly tell me that riverfest doesn't "generate milions of dollars" those were my words. Am I lying? hell you should have been paid something yourself. think about all the overpriced beer sales. We all want it to be better- It's nothing personal.

Max says "The specific KATV link isn't currently available, but you might be able to catch the report -- and Riverfest official's crawfishing on being caught on this outrage -- at their homepage."

That is why I went to KATV to find a link or article about this issue. There's not one now. If there are resources available to update the site, they shouldn't be picking and choosing what to post. Several new articles are on the site since I posted 4 hours ago.

Goof-
You sound like the expert- talking about peoples grandmothers- I'm sure your grandmother's a very nice woman with lots of wisdom to pass along. Come on, can you honestly tell me that riverfest doesn't "generate milions of dollars" those were my words. Am I lying? hell you should have been paid something yourself. think about all the overpriced beer sales. We all want it to be better- It's nothing personal.

oops didn't mean to post that three times

If you didn't like the new privatized shuttle service with half the buses and one fourth the bus doors and half the aisle width, write George W Bush and send a copy to Federal Transit Administrator James Simpson at
Federal Transit Administration
East Building
1200 New Jersey Ave SE
Washington, DC 20590

They are the ones who thought your access to Riverfest, and Alltel Arena, would be improved by letting private bus operators make a profit from you.

yeah - expert yes. I was the grounds chairman for four Riverfests. Millions of dollars, not once did I see that on the books.

As I said in all fairness, if you want to criticize, cough up a week or two of your vacation and help out Central Arkansas to a great time. I have a feeling you will decline. It's easier to bash than volunteer.

well I guess I'm wrong but admission alone would have to be in excess of 2 mil. gross... Look my gripe is small potatoes really. All the little kids have a good time at riverfest and thats good enough. I'm not bashing it. My take is different than yours. I'm a homer to. Think of it as constructive criticism. I don't care about the bridge or whatever...

As to the question which started this whole discussion about RiverFest, has anyone considered that the Junction Bridge may have been rented by the hoity toity? Every story I read about the Junction Bridge said it was available to be rented for private parties. Was it rented during RiverFest?

Just axsin!

Arky

I am astounded to hear that there are locals who still go to Riverfest. Must be the youngies. I haven't been in 15 years. Too many people then, seemingly all out of towners looking for something to do.

"We are all created equal",
but some are created more equal than others.

I always thought the first one was the best. Not crowded. Take the bus around to see the different events: the old train at the train station, the Indian exhibit in NLR, the open house at the old Gazette office and pioneer home and the arts & crafts down in what was then the riverfront part. Went back a few times but it got much more commercial and for me far less attractive.

I agree on most. This was NOT a good RIVERFEST. The acts were stale in comparison to previous years.

The ones I wanted to see were AR groups and I can see them anytime. WHY charge $20.00? What family of four can really afford that for Chaka Khan, seriously is that the best we can do.

I'm tired of the whole city sacrificing huge swaths of public space for this. In a nutshell, it was sorry.

Also, finally about time some of the media sponsors jump them and hold them accountable instead of sucking up as another one of the "media sponsors." Kudos to Channel 7 and the Times. The rest are where?

Tickets were made available to anyone who asked for them.
And that some tickets were left at local eating joints on both sides of the river.

That was a Pulaski County decision -- not Riverfest. Riverfest wasa llowed use of the bridge, but was told it would be off limits during the fireworks. Riverfest didn't have access during fireworks including Riverfest sponsors and muckety mucks. So ask Buddy about the Junctin Bridge -- don't blame Riverfest.

And for all of those complaints -- do you know that Riverfest only has 2 full time employees? The entire festival is put on by volunteers. They work like dogs -- in hot sticky weather -- from 7 am to 2 am during the festival, and use vacation time the WEEK before the festival to get everything ready.

And Riverfest does not rip off local talent - if the band didn't want to play for $50.00, why did it? And I know the bands at the Arkansas Tent received more than that. Which by the way was fabulous -- covered tentwith tables and chairs, right near an entrance, between the beer stand and the Riverbanks booth and next to the river. That was the place to be on Sunday. Forget ZZ Top -- Jim Dickenson was awesome!

And except for the two full time and 1 part time employee, all the money made from Riverfest, after expenses, goes to improving the Riverfront.

So seriously -- constructive criticism is great -- the volunteers really try to improve everything every year . But bitching and moaning is really a slap in the face to all those volunteers that give up their week and weekends to bring something fun for everyone.

You can bet the bridge was full of fat cat democrats and of course the Jr. league gang. Old Patrick Henry, Jimmy Lou, Dusty McDan, Beebe, all the Best Dressed Men, as May Horn used to say. I bet not a minority in sight. Well probably serving the lemonade, tea cakes etc. Thats how those dem's work. Obama will lose and the minorities will all go back to the Dem. plantations.

I'll buy the County controls the Junction Bridge not Riverfest during fireworks explaination.

But, saying Riverfest has two paid employees and the rest volunteers as some excuse for doing the best they can under the conditions is a lame rationalization.

Clearly the event has become more huge than two paid people can manage. You can have all the volunteers in the world working this event with the best of intentions. But, when someone needs to be held accountable for expectations not being met you can't rightfully chastise a volunteer who it has to be assumed is doing the best they can.

That leaves only two people to be held accountable. Those who are paid to produce the event. But, again because the event is so large these two paid people can be compassionately excused because overseeing an event of a 1/4 Million people is no small task.

The Rivefest event needs to decide that if they are going to produce a quality anything, and their web site used those words at least before this weekend, that more paid employees accountable for the success and failures need to be in place.

This is exactly the kind of crap we in North Little Rock live with everyday. I'm sure the "average person" attending riverfest didnt know anything about how to get tickets to get in to this viewing of the fireworks. We as hardworking taxpayers in NLR are constantly being made to pay for things the average person cant really be a part of, And we are sick and tired of it. Just wait and see, when this years election campaigns get cranked up, Many have said it is gonna get bloody, or at least very Muddy here in Dogtown. Sit back and watch!! Its gonna be a hoot! I personally can't wait till november when I get to cast my votes to get rid of this admin full of Hazy butt kissers!!!!!

What does one expect when the groups' genetic material is from the Junior League?

What about the cordoned off block of seats front and center at the Riverfest Amphitheater with the Datamax sign on it? Was that the county's decision too?

How pathetic some of your lives must be, to actually look for reasons to bitch and moan about an event that it put on by volunteers and to which no one forced you to go. That is if any of you complaining actually went, but I digress....

The fact is that tickets to the "private viewing" on the bridge were given away...not sold...not rewarded to...but given away to anyone that asked for them. They were available to anyone attending the opening ceremony on Sat., May 17, as there were tables set up on both ends of the bridge as you entered that were offering the tickets. Now whether it was a good decision or a bad decision to cut off a major crowd thoroughfare during this event, I'm sure that will be debated for some time.

But in the words of Sgt. Hulka, "Lighten up, Francis."

I haven't been to Riverfest in about 3 years though I went frequently before that and even volunteered a time or two. It was an "OK" but crowded experience.

It appalls me to see so most criticism directed towards a group of dedicated volunteers. Yeah, some might be in the Jr. League, they may have different tasted in musics, they didn't pay the bands "enough", they didn't run the bridge "right", they had to deal with a screwy shuttle system, limited parking, blocked bridges and a very narrow venue, oh yeah and $3.90 gas.

It would be nice if someone said, "Thanks".

For 2009 the list of opportunities is wide open. I feel certain that anyone who wanted to attend the meetings could join the music committee. Fresh input might be appreciated.

Ron Rizzardi might pick up the phone tomorrow and offer to arrange the volunteers to safeguard the bikes next year. Perhaps ten times the number might make the trek from Burns Park to the River. How neat would that be?

I suspect someone could tell us, but there were probably 15,000+ volunteer hours. Do you think that adding two 1,000 a year employees would make that big of a change.

Thanks to those who worked hard on this.

nice roundup over at rock candy.

BACA will probably be offering the same sort of service at Riverfest '09, provided that things fall into place as well as they did this year. This was strictly something that BACA worked up with the City of NLR, Riverfest makes the flat assertion that they don't provide parking for cars, and they derned sure ain't going to do anything similar for bicycles.

By this time next year, gas should be somewhere between $5 to $6 a gallon if the current trends hold, so hopefully we'll see a lot more cyclists flitting around the edges of the events, or at least folks will be a lot more used to walking over the river bridges ;-)

"Ron Rizzardi might pick up the phone tomorrow and offer to arrange the volunteers to safeguard the bikes next year. Perhaps ten times the number might make the trek from Burns Park to the River. How neat would that be? "

Ron Rizzardi did contact Deanna Korte asking specifically for volunteers to man the booth.

DENIED.

I was told it is Rivefest policy to not provide parking for cars and that extends to bicycles. Now before that seems like an equitable arrangment, think about the Riverfest mission:

"The mission of Riverfest, Inc. is to produce a quality, recreational, cultural, educational, family-oriented celebration of the visual and performing arts for the benefit of the community"

A The mission of Riverfest, Inc. is to produce a quality recreational family-oriented celebration of the visual and performing arts for the benefit of the community. Bicycle riding to the event is recreational and its a quality one at that. Sitting in an AUV for 30 minutes trying to egress from down town is not quality anything.

The bicycle parking I was told could not be within closed areas of Riverfest so the parking spot at Main and Washington was chosen.

The parking was set up by BACA and volunteers were BACA members. BACA advised Riverfest about the available bicycle parking. Did they try to work the media for us to advise the public? No. Their web site details where parking for cars is but did they annotate where bicycle parking would be. No.

BACA worked the media and we were, except for a blog posting here by MAX, completely ignored.

The first day of Riverfest event officials went on the air with KARK and told everyone what not to bring. Bicycles were one of them. In fact people were warned not to bring bicycles.

Two people can watch dozens of bicycles in the space of 40 sq feet. That's not a hard thing to do and it should be provided by Riverfest. At the least Riverfest should make it incredibly easy to ride a bicycle to the event by having the parking spots within 20 feet of an entrance. In my opinion the Faucet Park entrance took up 20 feet of linear space. People were stretched across Riverfront drive to go into the park.

Putting bicycle racks along side the entrance up against the walls where there were no people would be the best place for the bicycle racks in the case of this entrance.

.........Two people can watch dozens of bicycles in the space of 40 sq feet. That's not a hard thing to do and it should be provided by Riverfest.........

get in line behind those who want Riverfest to provide better facilities for animals, multilingual staff, golf cart rentals, free earplugs, yada yada yada.

There is a ton of difference between "offering to arrange the volunteers" and calling to ask Riverfest to give you volunteers for your pet project.

I can't help you about why you were ignored by the media.......perhaps you need to look internally there.

You know BACA has a great idea and it has incredible potential to promote bike riding in Central Arkansas, but rather than brow beat Riverfest it seems like it would be much more productive for BACA to put together a package of their own members and supplies and requirements and go to groups like Riverfest,and War Memorial, Alltel, and Greek Food Fest etc and say, "If you can give us 40 sq ft we will provide the BACA Corral for your event for the next three years."

Position BACA to appear like an asset and partner, not just another group crying out for scarce volunteers.

Dear mud,
You couldn't be more off in your assessment, probably because you only half read my comments.
If I wanted to get in line I'd wait for RF to make a move.
BACA did take the initiative like it does so often. So that gives me certain unqualfied brow beating rights. They are ignorant in their responsiveness.

I asked for a space of 40 sq feet from RF and was denied it.

Riverfest needs to do more to provide for bicycle parking. I would have liked to have worked cooperatively with them instead of getting No and No Response.

I suspect the media responds to events more when one of their advertisers are involved.