Downtown transforms for RiverFest

Published 9:08 am Monday, April 13, 2015

Festival-goers walk down Washington Street in 2014 during RiverFest, an annual festival held downtown. (Justin Sellers/The Vicksburg Post)

Festival-goers walk down Washington Street in 2014 during RiverFest, an annual festival held downtown. (Justin Sellers/The Vicksburg Post)

Downtown Vicksburg transforms into an outdoor concert hall and mega market Friday and Saturday with the 28th edition of RiverFest, the city’s annual music and crafts festival covering an area bounded east by Walnut Street and west by the River.

According to festival organizers, a total of 13,000 people attended the two-day event in 2014, and they are hoping to exceed that total this year.

“We had 5,000 people Friday and 8,000 Saturday (in 2014),” said Christy Pecanty, RiverFest president.

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“I’d like to see it grow bigger, since we extended the street a little bit and putting up a full stage this year,” she said. “I’d like to see it increase; I want to see the numbers go up, but I want to see everybody have a good time. We’ve got a lot of stuff going on this year.”

The music begins at 6 p.m. Friday when the RiverFest gates open for concerts on the festival’s South Stage at the corner of Crawford Street and Washington Street. Music starts on the North Stage by China Street at 7 p.m., with events and activities continuing Saturday with the arts and crafts show, food vendors and other attractions on Washington and Walnut streets. The event ends Saturday night with a series of performances by musical groups on both stages. Admission is $10 each night.

Headliner for this year’s event is Texas-born and raised country singer and multi-instrumentalist Craig Wayne Boyd, who was the seventh season winner of the television show “The Voice” in 2014. Boyd and his band will lead a list 12 musical acts performing at RiverFest.

Friday’s performances on the South Stage open at 6 p.m. with Ralph Miller from Vicksburg on the South Stage playing acoustic contemporary music, followed by Connie G., a Tina Turner impersonator from Lafayette, La., at 7:30.

“She looks and sounds just like Tina,” Pecanty said.

Back 40 from Cleveland performing music from the late 1980s and 90s, closes the first night of performances at the South Stage at 9 p.m.

Vicksburg’s The Chill starts the music on the North Stage at 7 p.m., with the TipTops, a show band from Mobile, Ala. following at 8:30 performing a mix of Motown, R&B, and rock music from the 1950s and ‘80s.

The R&B quintet Silk, the Friday evening headliner, comes on at 10 to close the Friday performances.

Saturday opens with the inaugural DiamondJacks Rhythm Run at RiverFest 5K run and walk and 1-mile fun run for children at 8 a.m., followed by a GospelFest at the South Stage.

“We’re bringing the gospel music back this year,” Pecanty said. “It will be in the same area where the kids activities take place. We’ll have the awards ceremony for the 5K run and 1-mile fun run, and the gospel music begins at 11 a.m.”

Activities and performances of yoga and dance teams will follow on the South Stage after the gospel music ends.

Booths at Saturday’s arts and crafts show will cover Crawford Street and Walnut Street by City Hall, and continuing south along South Street.

“We will have a number of food items on Washington Street,” Pecanty said. “We will have crawfish this year. We’ve got a vendor doing crawfish. That’s something we haven’t have had in a while is crawfish downtown. The bull ride will be back. The younger guys tend to like that lot.”

On the Mississippi River, the Southern Heritage Air Foundation will offer rides in its 2001 Aviat Husky amphibious plane once owned by former Gov. Kirk Fordice for $100 a ride. The money will benefit the foundation’s efforts to maintain the planes.

“The plane will be at City Front,” foundation president Patty Mekus said. “People will get in it there, it will takeoff, fly around the area and land on the water.”

Another new attraction will be a dog show featuring three performances Saturday.

South of the activities on Washington and Walnut Streets, the Vicksburg Convention Center will host the 35th annual Alcorn State University Jazz Festival.

The festival opens at 9 a.m. with performances by high school and university jazz ensembles, followed at 4 p.m. by a one-hour workshop by jazz artist Ron Carter. The music resumes at 7 p.m. with a performance by the Mississippi Jazz Educators, with Carter and his “Golden Striker” trio in concert starting at 8 p.m.

Saturday night’s music on the South Stage returns at 6 p.m. with local favorite Slap Happy, followed at 7:30 by Team Civilized, a group performing music for listeners 13 to 19 years old, with the R&B group 2Xtreme closing at 9.

The Baton Rouge, La., band Gillis Silo opens the night’s acts on the North Stage with its “country rock” style at 7 p.m., followed by all-girl Mustang Sally Band and with its own blend of rock and country 8:30 providing the final warm-up act for Saturday headliner Craig Wayne Boyd, the 2014 season winner of “The Voice.”

On the North Stage, Gillis Silo of Baton Rouge, La., opens the performances at 7 p.m., followed by the all-girl band Mustang Sally at 8:30, which provides the final warm-up for Boyd, who comes on at 10 to close RiverFest.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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