As 2025 Wichita Riverfest nears, new leader shares wish list for future festivals
When BreAnna Monk started her new job as president and CEO of Wichita Festivals Inc. in January, the board of directors gave her clear instructions.
“Raise money,” Monk said. “Go find us money.”
And that ask, she said, turned out to be even more difficult than her other directive, which was to launch a massive festival that attracts more than 250,000 people in just five months.
“The challenging piece for that was the economy,” Monk said. “Me coming into this role in January with the economy already in flux, lots of people are saying, ‘We don’t have the budget for it.’ It’s definitely not from lack of trying at all. It’s a trying time, and I understand that. A lot of people have been kind and let us know, ‘Come back. Check back with us next year.”
But Monk, 43, says she’s not worried about the festival, which will open its nine-day run in downtown Wichita in in less than two weeks. She’s looking at this year’s event, which runs May 30 through June 7, as a practice run, a time to observe and listen.
“We’re learning,” she said. “We’re adapting. We’re absorbing what’s going on and then embracing what has happened in the past. So instead of drastic changes, we can do incremental changes, so therefore it will stick, and it will actually be more worthwhile.”
In October, Wichita Festivals Inc. announced that previous festival head Nancy Duling had stepped down as the festival’s leader after two years on the job.
Before Duling, the CEO position had been vacant since September 2020, when Ty Tabing was cut from the staff. He had been hired in November 2019, but because the festival was canceled during the pandemic, he never got the chance to lead one.
Despite all the turnover, though, Monk — the first Black woman to lead Wichita Festivals Inc. — says that the event is in decent shape. Last year’s event was, “a good break even,” she said, and she was fortunate that the previous staff was well into planning when she started the job.
Though she’s made several big decisions regarding this year’s festival — such as significantly increasing billboard, television, radio and social media marketing — the 2025 festival will continue on the trajectory it was on before she arrived. When Duling left, Monk said, most of the staff stayed and continued the work already underway. The only position Monk had to hire for was director of volunteers.
Instead of making any big changes, Monk said, she dove headfirst into this year’s festival — though she has taken time to talk to people about what they like and don’t like about the event, and she’s done some brainstorming about additions she hopes to make next year and into the future.
“I’m not here to make a name for myself,” Monk said. “I’m here to make sure that the city of Wichita and the surrounding areas can continue to have a festival.”
Professional party planner
Monk, who was born in Chicago but mostly grew up in Wichita, had moved a couple of years ago to New Jersey to take a job as vice president of operations for a big trucking company. But when her father became ill, she moved back to Wichita.
She saw a listing for the Wichita River Festival position and decided to apply. Monk had history with the festival — she worked as a volunteer for about a decade, first at the River Run and then as a member of the festival volunteer committee.
“The next thing you know, I started getting interviewed,” she said.
Monk’s resume also includes a six-year stint with the city of Derby, where she served as the senior services and transportation director. But her more than 20 years working in event planning — she’s spent time organizing the Midwest Winefest and was an event planner for the America’s Pub chain for five years — made her feel ready to take on an event as large as the Wichita Riverfest, whose roots go back to 1972.
Though fundraising is one of her talents, Monk said, starting so late in the planning process made finding new sponsors for this year’s festival difficult. Many potential sponsors had already long ago finalized their budgets. The festival staff was able to secure some new sponsors this year, though, including Crossland Construction, which is sponsoring the main stage on Kennedy Plaza, and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and Omega Psi Phi fraternity, who are helping to sponsor the June 2 Gospelfest.
Monk also quickly learned that she’d have to continue fighting misinformation that many directors before her have dealt with: people in Wichita assuming that the festival is paid for by the city.
“There’s been a big misconception, I would say, about Wichita Festivals and the Riverfest,” she said. “A lot of people do not realize that Wichita festivals is a nonprofit organization rooted in Wichita. The city is a huge supporter of us, and we absolutely adore the city of Wichita. But every dollar we have is sponsored by some kind of company or organization. . . . We have to go and find that money, just like every nonprofit organization.”
Monk spent some time over the last several months having one-on-one meetings with festival board members and staff members to gauge their feelings about the festival’s direction. Then, she dove into the festival’s social media pages, reading comments the public had left about the event.
“There are so many different people who have left many comments, and I’ve read them all, whether they were good or whether they were bad,” she said. “It’s okay, because I like it when people are honest. If you like something, let me know. If you don’t like it, let me know. Either way, we’re going to take that into consideration when we are building what 2026 is going to look like.”
Wish list
This year’s festival will feel much like 2024’s, said Monk and the festival’s new marketing assistant, Maria Bradley. It will feature all of the events people have come to expect, including the Sundown Parade; the River Run; eight nights of main stage concerts from local, regional and national acts including FloRida and Chris Janson; an ice cream social; the Cajun Food Fest; and three nights of fireworks — on May 31, June 4 and June 8.
Attendees will also find a few new attractions, including a children’s entrepreneur market on Sunday, June 1; a new mocktail lounge called The Phoenix, where each day people can enjoy non-alcoholic beverages, yoga and other activities; and a new family movie night on June 1, when the festival will screen “The Wild Robot” on Kennedy Plaza.
A few details about the festival will change this year, too. The River Run, for example, will have a new route that starts and ends on Kennedy Plaza. Also, the food court will no longer require people to buy tickets to get food.
Also, Monk is departing — slightly — from the button messaging of her predecessors. Although buttons are still required for entry to concerts and the main footprint of the festival, organizers are being more transparent about festival activities that don’t require a button. They’ve even compiled a list of events that people without buttons can attend, including the parade on May 30, the children’s entrepreneur market in June 1, the fishing derby on June 7, the touch-a-truck event on June 5, and the food court from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
People also can also watch events like the Cowboy Bathtub Races and Cardboard Regatta on June 1 without buttons.
Of course, organizers would prefer that everyone has a button because button sales pay the bills. But families who can’t swing it won’t be completely left out.
“Especially in economic uncertainty,” Bradley said.
Monk said that she’s also had a little time to come up with a “wish list” of events she’d like to see incorporated into future festivals.
She’d like to see the festival start a community-oriented 3 on 3 basketball tournament at Century II with categories for adults plus elementary, middle and high school-age kids.
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She’d like to have a “Wichita’s Got Talent” talent show.
She’s already working on plans for an event called “College Days” that would be targeted at teenagers. She describes it as a hands-on event that will allow various local colleges to pick a day and provide activities that are educational and give teens experience with things such as robotics and engineering.
She’d also like to get the Native American community more involved with the festival and put on a big powwow on Kennedy Plaza.
“I’d also love to bring the block party back, or some edition of it,” she said. “I’ll be working around the particulars.”
In two years, she said, the festival will be celebrating its 55th birthday, and Monk would like to bring back an event that was part of the original event in 1972 — a Miss Riverfest-type pageant.
“Now, will everything take place in 2026? No,” she said. “ But over some time, I would like to bring people in, just to give it a face lift.”
She also has a big dream, she said, of starting a Taste of Wichita-type event separate from Riverfest. She envisions local restaurants lining Douglas Avenue and offering samples of their food. Maybe, she said, she’d combine it with some kind of barbecue festival.
If anyone else has ideas, Monk said, she’d love to hear them.
“We’re always open to some new ways,” she said “I think one thing that I love about the team is that we listen. If people have ideas, suggestions, we absolutely listen. So if there are other avenues we have not tapped into, we’re all ears.”
Wichita Riverfest 2025
When: May 30-June 7
Where: Downtown Wichita, in and around Century II
Admission: A button is admission to all gated events. Adult buttons are $20; buttons for ages 6-12 are $10; admission is free for ages 5 and under. Get buttons at QuikTrip locations in Wichita, Newton, El Dorado, Park City and Derby; at the Wichita Riverfest offices at 444 E. William; or online through May 23 at www.wichitafestivalsshop.com
Schedule: It’s online at wichitariverfest.com/events
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