Regular Riverbend Festival attendees will notice a few changes to three of the stages this year thanks to the construction near the river.
Talent and Production Coordinator Joe “Dixie” Fuller said the Unum Stage will be moved and rotated across Riverfront Parkway in front of the Hunter Museum of American Art because of work on the Edwin Hotel near the Walnut Street Bridge.
Work on Interstate 24 around the Olgiati Bridge also has forced Fuller to move the Bud Light Stage about 50 feet and the Chevrolet Stage, which had been under the bridge, will move to the lawn near Power Alley.
“It’s a little bit unique for me this year also because all three of those stages will be mobile stages,” he said. “Both the Bud and Unum stages will be the same size, we just don’t have to build them. You roll them in and open them up.”
The Bud and Unum stages are being provided by Teri Productions in Knoxville, while Friends of the Festival bought its own mobile stage this year that will be the Chevy Stage. It will be used by Friends for other events it produces throughout the year such as Riverfront Nights, and it can be rented by other organizations as well.