RIBFEST calls it quits, are other festivals next?

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Looks like $10 for 3 bones festival is over;

“The entertainment landscape has continued to expand over recent years with the opening of Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, The District and soon to be Levitt Shell,” Torkildson said. “SMG is refocusing its resources and efforts to managing and producing events in the venues it manages in Sioux Falls.”

I find it interesting that they would cancel this event right after getting a new contract to help manage Canaries Stadium. Makes you wonder what revenues are really like for SMG in Sioux Falls, or what they are seeing for projections.

I have been hearing rumors over the past couple of months that both CityFest (used to be LifeLight) and JazzFest may be on the chopping blocks also. I haven’t had anyone confirm that yet with me, but I do know that LifeLight as an organization has been liquidating some assets and Rob Joyce is retiring from the Jazz and Blues Society.

While I could give two-sh*ts about Ribfest or LifeLight, killing JazzFest would be very detrimental to summer entertainment. Even if they have to just scale back for a couple of years to one day, I think that would be better than trying to bring it back later. Obviously there is going to be a shift to have more outdoor festivals downtown at the Levitt, which is awesome, but Yankton Trails was a perfect venue for JazzFest. I was told at one time that JazzFest attendees are around 40% out of town (not sure what last year’s numbers were) but many stay for the entire event at local hotels and campgrounds. The economic impact of JF is pretty big when you consider all the city has to do is provide a city park for about a week they we already pay to maintain anyway.

Let’s hope for the best!

Lifelight announces ‘City Fest’ location

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I was glad to see Cory commenting on the upcoming festival in Sioux Falls, and I would like to add to his comments on the two day concert event;

From thousands of campers and an average 130,000 concertgoers at the rural Worthing concert site to a mere 18,000 tickets at the Sioux Falls stadium? Wow—better start praying for tickets!

Cory points out the one thing I have been puzzled about. How do take an event that has garnered this many people in the past and reduce them to Canaries stadium? Could it be that maybe the numbers will be more controlled as to who can attend, and done on purpose? Not sure, you would have to ask Alan Greene.

I do know that the rural location has caused some headaches with the organizers. Rain has always been an issue causing a muddy mess sometimes at the festival. I have also heard rumors that the campground has become a ‘playground’ for ‘some’ teenagers that are not really there to spread the word of Christ, so to speak. Not sure if that was a contributing factor or not, but it seems Lifelight is looking to reign in some of those logistical problems. Good for them.

While I may not attend or endorse these kind of gatherings personally, I do applaud them for bringing the festival back to the city (for economic reasons). And when it comes to more free concert events in SF, such as JazzFest, I say AMEN to that.

So is Lifelight’s new location a go?

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Let’s throw a festival honoring the REAL gawd.

While I could care less about Christian music festivals, I still think Lifelight is a good thing for our community, even though the whole thing is based on a fictional tale . . . but I won’t go there. I posted about the new location not to long ago, and I got this comment tonight;

SO there is less than a month until the festival. We live across the highway from where it will be this year. They have NOTHING built. Their fields are currently flooded and un-mowed. Most of the roads leading into the area are gravel or dirt and are in bad condition from the flooding. There is ONE intersection that they expect to move all those people through. I don’t know how they are going to pull any of it off. But that’s ok with us. Nobody asked us if it was ok to have a festival with 300,000 people across the street. We will have to put up barriers to keep drunks off of our property. We will have to put up with the loud music until 2am. Personally, we are disgusted with the whole mess and think that Alan Greene needs to be more considerate and actually ask people living in the area if it is ok to throw a giant party across the street.

Hopefully they will get rained out and move the concert back to the Arena in Sioux Falls where it belongs. Or even Sioux City. Somewhere that doesn’t mind having so many people in one place at once.

Yes, I agree, there should be some considerations of your neighbor “Love thy neighbor.” But the thing that worries me the most is the muddy fields and poorly maintained roads. Maybe gawd is sending a message . . . host your event in Sioux Falls or worship me by my real name, Buddha.

LifeLight has room to spread it’s wings, but . . .

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While I would never go to LifeLight because, well . . . let’s not get into that today. I have said in the past that it is a good thing for Sioux Falls because there is probably some kind of economic impact on the area:

CANTON – One of the nation’s largest Christian music festivals is expected to announce today that it has found a new home in Lincoln County.

The LifeLight Christian music festival will relocate from 160 acres near Wild Water West to 220 acres on a farm just east of Worthing. The new site is about 20 miles south of Sioux Falls.

While I can understand LL moving because it needs more room, I wonder if the rural location will cause some logistical problems? Parking (soft soil)? Electricity (generators being blown out), Emergencies (such as T-storm). I hope it goes off without a hitch, but being that far from Sioux Falls could cause some problems. While I fully understand that they will be saving money on not having to rent the land, you wonder if that money will instead be tossed at solving the logistical problems. I guess we will find out.

God will provide (and it won’t hurt if some taxpayers pony up to)

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Alan and the Jesus time festival fun makers are at it again, looking for a handout;

He estimated that the purchase price for 200 acres could run as much as $1 million, and that his ministry did not have that amount in the bank.

 

It will be up to the task force then to figure out whether land is available for donation, or whether there may need to be some fundraising, Greene said.

 

“Maybe someone is sitting on that land now, and if they knew how it was going to be used, they might say, ‘This is God’s land anyway. We want to use God’s land for this ministry,’ ” Greene said.

Maybe JazzFest should ask Sioux Falls to give them a park to, “Equality and civil rights were acheived on American soil with the help of Jazz music. We want to use that same soil for enriching people’s lives with music.”

You could apply that canned saying to almost any non-proift.

Though I am not opposed to borrowing them land to host the event, similiar to what the city does with JazzFest because of the tax revenue we take in from visitors, I am, however, opposed to the city or county ‘giving’ them land. If a private entity wants to, good for them, but you better stay out of the city’s kitty when looking for manna from Heaven.

Among those who have agreed to be on the task force, which will hold its first meeting next Tuesday at the LifeLight offices, are Sioux Falls City Councilor De Knudson, Minnehaha County commissioners Dick Kelly and Carol Twedt, Sheriff Mike Milstead, Teri Ellis Schmidt of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Sioux Falls bankers Dave Rozenboom and Dana Dykhouse.

Great! Quen Be De Knudson. She’ll give away the farm if you let her. Whether you believe in the mission of LifeLight or not should not matter. Remember, separation of Church and State. You have the Freedom to put on your hypocrisy fest just as long as you don’t infringe on my rights (or my wallet). I hope these public officials tread lightly.