Kellie Pickler performs Saturday night at Riverbend. Saturday was the last night of the music festival.As stagehands break down performance areas and clean up whatever garbage still litters the riverfront, there’s little to mark the nine-day Riverbend Festival but the lingering aroma of funnel cakes and chicken on a stick.
The musicians are back on the road, the crowds have gone home and the food vendors packed away their kitchens, but patrons and professionals alike say the 30th annual festival was fairly successful.
“It’s not bad this year. I can’t complain,” said James Harvell, manager of the Ragin’ Cajun Chicken on a Stick on Riverfront Parkway. “The rain plays a little bit of an issue, but all in all it’s been pretty nice.”
Weather was overall sunny except for Wednesday night, when torrential downpours shut down the side stages and made Miranda Lambert’s set on the Coca-Cola Stage more than an hour late.
Harvell has been coming to the festival for nine years and said that this year, sales were up.