RETHINKING RIVERBEND FESTIVAL

Some people will see it as a betrayal, some as a copout, some as a failure.

But the “temporary pause” placed on the 40-year-old Riverbend Festival Monday is the right move, considering that two generations have passed since its August 1982 debut, and life, music and music culture have evolved since then.

When the festival, modeled after the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, began, Ronald Reagan was in his second year as president, a Lookout Mountain brick home “on a beautifully landscaped lot in [a] choice Fairyland location” was selling for $69,500, and a new Peugeot Diesel sedan was being offered at $11,900 at Lawrence-Doster Lincoln-Mercury-Peugeot.

Among the featured performers at the first Riverbend were orchestra leader Count Basie, who died in 1984, composer and musician John Hartford, who died in 2001, gospel singer and songwriter Andraé Crouch, who died in 2015, and singer Roberta Flack, who is 86 and whose best-known song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” already was a decade old when she appeared here.

It was heavy on talent that appealed to the “Greatest Generation” (born 1901-1927) and the “Silent Generation” (born 1928-1945) and very little for the “Baby Boomer Generation” (born 1946-1964) or “Generation X” (born 1965-1980).

Between the first festival and 2019, when major changes were made, it had blossomed to annually attract tens of thousands to the banks of the Tennessee River with bands at the top of their games and artists who soon would be stars; but by the time 2019 came, it had lost its much of its hipness and in some ways became a parody of itself in presenting stars past their prime and others who never would see their prime.

After two years lost to the COVID pandemic, its 2022 and 2023 events were pared down to much smaller events and were nothing like the festival in its heyday. So a re-start is in order.

However, the organization’s news release Monday said “Riverbend is re-evaluating and restructuring in order to be successful in the future.” It went on to say the festival “will never go away; however, it’s time to go back to our roots — to music that is authentic to Chattanooga. We’re dedicated to our mission, and the next time Riverbend’s gates open audiences across all demographics will have music they can embrace and experiences they’ve come to expect.”

We’re no music or festival experts, but we sort of feel like the music-for-all-demographics promise was what made the festival lose its cachet — and lose money, which it has done in several recent years.

Alongside it have risen festivals that appeal to lovers of certain types of music like the folk- and indie-heavy Moon River Festival, which sold out its general admission tickets for the 2023 Coolidge Park event in less than two hours.

In 1982, music festivals were few and far between. Now they’re everywhere. One website lists 19 across the country just this coming weekend.

So what to do?

We think the decision to expand the weekly concert series Riverfront Nights, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, is a good start. Perhaps several of the concerts at Miller Plaza could have a bigger name. Perhaps a couple of the nights could have one early band at Miller Plaza and a later one at Miller Park, across the street.

What about a several-night festival with one night at the traditional riverfront site and the next night at Coolidge Park? What about a four-night festival in four different parts of the city with different musical genres in each? We may be dreaming up logistical nightmares for organizers, but we believe out-of-the-box thinking is called for. And how about asking for community ideas? Maybe, instead of saying the festival “will never go away,” it does go away, but is replaced by something or some things newer and better and more appealing to today’s festival-goer and concert fan.

As indefatigable community volunteer and Riverbend Executive Director Mickey McCamish noted, “It’s difficult for us price-wise to compete with the Live Nations of the world [promoters of huge concerts across the country]. Their buying power is so much stronger than mine. It’s difficult to compete to bring the artists in at an affordable price I think the Chattanooga community would be willing to pay for.”

So let’s be what we can be. In the hiatus year or years, work with what already exists. Ask people what they’ll pay, where they’d like to listen to music, who they’d like to see.

The Riverbend Festival was an idea that was ripe for its time. This is a different time, but it doesn’t mean we still can’t have well-produced events and artists and bands that people want to see and all the “feels” that the community had when it gathered at the river for so many years.