Signs of Riverfest going up in downtown Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Downtown Wichita is beginning to show signs that the Wichita Riverfest is only days away. The annual nine-day party begins next Friday, May 31.
Workers have been busy with preparations in the downtown area since Monday, raising tents, putting down floors, and installing signs.
Volunteers say it is a team effort.
“We have a lot of volunteers,” Linda Davidson, Riverfest Food Court co-chair, said. ” Some of my best friends are out here. You see red shirts, yellow shirts, purple shirts. They all have different roles to play during the nine days and in more than the nine days, like two weeks prior to, we’ve got a warehouse crew that gets everything staged for us.”
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They will take a short break for the holiday weekend and be back to work on Tuesday.
“On Tuesday, the vendors start loading in, and the plumbers come back, the electricians come back, make sure everything’s fired up, propane’s to the tank and so forth, so we’re ready to open up at 11 o’clock on Friday,” Davidson said.
The volunteers may be needed again if severe weather hits.
“The work doesn’t stop once the festival starts,” she said. “We have a few other things to take care of. You never know when the wind storm’s going to come up and mess with our banners or blow our tents down, so just hit the ground running the first thing in the morning, get back ready to go so when we open up at 11 o’clock no one knows anything about it.”
Davidson said the popular Riverfest Kids Corner is in a new place this year, within the compound area of the Food Court.
“We had it across the Waco extension, which was kind of a bit problematic because we couldn’t close that street, so we had to worry about vehicular traffic,” she said. “We feel this will be a safer environment for the kiddos.”
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The important thing is for people to show up.
“Invite everybody and encourage the community to come out and support the festival,” she said. “It’s a non-profit organization. We need everybody’s participation. We have outstanding sponsors that come back every year, but we need the attendees to come down and buy their button and enjoy the festival and enjoy it like we do.”
Click here for button prices and the schedule for “Kansas’ biggest outdoor party.”
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