Wichita Riverfest buttons will double in price

The Wichita River Festival will double the price of an adult button from $5 to $10 this year, festival officials said during a Friday news conference. But a couple of presale opportunities before the buttons officially go on sale May 8 will offer people a chance to still buy buttons for $5.

The price bump is needed, said Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of Wichita Festivals Inc., because event costs, including paying musical acts and providing security, have dramatically risen during the decade since the button price last went up. Without more money from buttons, she said, organizers won’t be able to offer the caliber of festival the city wants.

“We want to make sure we can put together an event that is pride-worthy,” Jarvis said. “And we just have gotten so very, very, very far out of market. You go to State Fair, and it’s 10 bucks a day, and then you buy your concert ticket. You go to the Riverfest in Salina and it’s $15 for the weekend. Winfield is $35 bucks a day to go listen to bluegrass. I think we’ve just gotten behind.”

But, at least this year, festivalgoers who are proactive can get buttons required for admission into the festival, which will run May 29 through June 6, for last year’s price of $5. The lower-priced buttons will be on sale online or over the phone through Select-A-Seat through April 16. A $1 service fee will be added for each button.

The $5 buttons also can be purchased in person at the Intrust Bank Arena box office or at the Wichita Festivals Inc. office at 444 E. William from April 17 until May 7.

Any button purchased after that will be $10. The festival will continue to offer its child button, which was introduced last year, for $3, no matter when it’s purchased. Companies that buy buttons in bulk for their employees also will get the $5 price.

The price jump didn’t sit well with some festival fans, who said Riverfest already costs too much for the value it offers.

Jackie Utz said she was “completely shocked” about the price jump. For the past several years, she said, she has attended only the events she could slip into without a button, like the Sundown Parade. But the concert lineup, which Utz said includes too many has-beens, isn’t worth the money, she said.

“The entertainment has gone so downhill, and they’ve complained about attendance,” she said. “This is only going to make it worse.”

Jarvis announced a few other significant River Festival changes at the conference. The River Run is moving to the second Saturday, which is June 6. The 10-kilometer and 2-mile runs have traditionally happened on the first Saturday. Also, the big fireworks show, which last year moved to the festival’s opening night, is moving back to its traditional closing night spot.

The festival also plans to resurrect Treasure Island, a popular attraction for children that ended after the 2003 festival.

The button price boost will mark the fourth time the price has increased since the festival opened with a $1 button in 1970. The price increased to $2 in 1990, then rose to $3 in 2000. In 2006, citing increasing entertainment costs, festival organizers raised the button price to $5.

Derby resident Ryan Kastens, who says he likes to check out the festival food court each year, said the increase made sense to him. He said he would have preferred an incremental increase, but he recognized that he often spent $10 for activities much less entertaining than the festival.

“Obviously, a lot of people are going to be upset. No one likes to see prices go up, and it’s a big jump,” he said. “But in the grand scheme of things, it’s going to bring in better shows and better concerts. It’s going to make it a better experience.”

Jarvis said she and her staff considered a more incremental button price increase but decided that plan would get the festival even more behind. Since 2009, she said, Wichita Festivals’ operating net returns are nearly $400,000 in the negative. And though things have improved since she took over as president in November 2012, Jarvis said, the festival has had to be careful to avoid big losses and hasn’t been able to rebuild reserves. Continuing to operate that way is “just not smart or sustainable,” she said. and she doesn’t want to put attendees and volunteers through multiple price increases over the next several years.

Last year, the festival sold 111,000 buttons and attracted about 380,000 visitors (visitors used the same button multiple times).

Over the years, the festival has become more focused on bringing big-name musical acts. Two years ago, the Go-Go’s, Montgomery Gentry, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed during the festival. Last year, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Jerrod Niemann and Grandmaster Flash headlined the festival. All the concerts were free with a button.

The Village People and country artist Easton Corbin have signed up for this year’s festival, and organizers plan to announce the rest of the musical lineup later this month.

Jarvis said people should compare the new button price with other entertainment options. One movie costs $10, she said. Tickets to many of the concerts the festival books would be more than $10 outside the festival, and other comparable festivals in the area cost significantly more to attend than Riverfest, she said.

“Fundamentally, we’ve arrived at a price that’s basically a buck a day for nine days of entertainment,” she said. “You can go to a movie for two hours or you can have nine days.”

The festival, which is a nonprofit event, is still doing well financially in other areas, and sponsorships, which were up last year, are looking good for this year, too, Jarvis said. Food court sales also are strong, but the amount of money the buttons bring in isn’t keeping up with the times, she said.

For years, she said, the festival followed a formula that assumed a third of the revenue would come from buttons, a third would come from sponsors and a third would come from food court sales.

“But the button piece of that has really dropped just because costs have gone up,” she said. “Sponsorships have kept pace, and food and beverage are all fine. But the buttons over time have become an increasingly smaller portion of that, and we just need to get that back up.”

Button art for 2015 depicts Windwagon Smith in space

The artwork for this year’s Riverfest button and promotional materials also was revealed at the news conference, and it depicts Admiral Windwagon Smith as an astronaut.

The design was created by Wichita artist Roger Strunk, a freelance designer and illustrator.

The button shows the admiral in a space suit with the Wichita skyline in the background. The theme for the festival this year is “Button Up. Have a Blast.”

Admiral astronaut also has a sidekick – a corn dog-wielding turtle named Ace. He is pictured on the $3 child button for kids ages 6-12.

Strunk’s design was chosen from 23 submissions, and he will take home a $3,500 award.

This story was originally published February 13, 2015 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Wichita Riverfest buttons will double in price."