Riverbend Festival is alive and selling tickets for next year

The new brand features a younger feel with updated colors, a bold font and the waves of the Tennessee River with a guitar in the background.

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Friends of the Festival is launching a rebranded website, announced dates for 2022, plus wristband sales.

Organizers promised they would come back after scaling back the festival and two years of Covid cancellations.

But many in the public wondered if they would survive.

The rebrand features a new color scheme and a new twist on the name for Merchandise… RVR/BND.

Riverbend will return on the weekend of June 3-5 at Ross’s Landing.

Three-day wristbands will be $95.

Organizers are promising a market for local artisans and healthier and local food choices.

Also, the Coca Cola barge was retired a few years ago and will be replaced by a stage that will put performers and the audience closer together.

They say the new Riverbend will also be smaller.

They will only sell 15,000 tickets.

At it’s peak, Riverbend was drawing peak crowds of 100,000 people to the Riverfront.

The Festival will announce the musical lineup sometime after the holidays.

Friends of the Festival Executive Director Mickey McCamish noted, “We’ve been working throughout the pandemic to provide a festival experience that can be safely delivered and will provide numerous types of experiences for our guests….  We’re excited that the new festival is based on a strong business plan that will position the festival for sustainability both now and in the future.”

The pandemic was only the most recent crisis to hit the long-running music event in downtown Chattanooga.

The Festival began in 1982 as a way to bring area residents downtown when there wasn’t much else going on there.  And also to give the city a more culturally diverse event.

But attendance and revenue had begun to dwindle over the last decade.

Friends of the Festival responded with a major revamp.. shortening the length to just one weekend, but boosting wristband prices to allow them to book more contemporary acts.

The new model was the Moon River Festival at Coolidge Park that was consistently booking a younger crowd.

Riverbend also targeted a more specific musical terrain of roots acts.

The first attempt at the higher price, but shorter event got mixed reviews and saw even smaller crowds.

But before they could tweak the event, the pandemic shut them down in 2020 & 21.