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New Riverfest organizers focus on family friendly atmosphere

The event will feature family-friendly admissions, a magician, strongman competition and Disney meet-and-greet.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - The new Riverfest organizer, Jack Daniels, is refocusing the event to be more family friendly, hoping that will draw larger crowds to this year's event.

“One of the reasons we went back to gear towards families is because of the old tradition of River Fest. We offer a family friendly admissions program so on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. With a paid $5 child admission, an adult gets in for free,” he said.

During the day they'll have a magician, strongman competition, a meet-and-greet with Disney Star, Sky Jackson, and booths with lots of kid activities.

However, there's still plenty of fun for adults.

“As we get towards the evening and the family fun policy shuts down we will gear more towards a concert theme,” he said.

Another change that will make spending money easier, and getting around downtown less of a headache, there will be no more Riverbucks and no more roadblocks.

“We've got a smaller footprint, we've made sure to not close a bunch of roads around the downtown area to make sure businesses can still have their action going on,” he said.

The festival has also expanded their carnival scene, which includes 17 new rides.

The general manager of Damgoode Pies in downtown, Roddy Crawford, said having the street open helps business and he feels gearing the festival towards families will bring in more people.

“Riverfest was on the decline for a while and I think this year it has a lot of renewed energy with the new organizers running it. It should be a family thing and I'm glad to see families at the center of it again,” he said.

There is also a breastfeeding station and Riverfest has paired with the Arkansas Foodbank if you’d like to donate canned goods.

For more information, click here.

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