Country legend Willie Nelson, 89, draws crowd of more than 50,000 to downtown Wichita

The Wichita Riverfest on Saturday night drew one of the biggest crowds it’s had in years when country legend Willie Nelson took the stage at Kennedy Plaza.

Wichita Festivals Inc. president Nancy Duling said that Wichita Police estimated more than 50,000 people attended the show, which was so packed, it was hard to move through the crowd.

Duling said that concert crowds would sometimes get that large back in the days when the festival put concerts on at the former West Bank Stage, a practice it discontinued in 2013.

“In the last 15 years, though, we haven’t had crowds like that, so it was impressive,” she said.

Duling said that the roar that traveled through the crowd when Nelson took the stage was deafening. Nelson stayed seated on stage through most of the concert, singing many of classic hits like “Good Hearted Woman.”

“Everybody was just excited for Willie,” Duling said. “You could just feel the energy.”

The festival music continues on Sunday with a show by rock band WAR, known for hits “Summer,” “Spill the Wine,” and “The World is Ghetto,” among others. The show starts at 5 p.m. with openers The Freedom Affair and the Prodigals.

This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 11:06 AM.