Enjoy music, food and fun at Riverfest

Prepare to get happy. The 45th Riverfest begins Friday in the heart of Wichita, welcoming summer with all manner of music, food and participatory fun through June 11.

Just don’t expect it to act its age, as the traditional event is prone to being goofy and trying anything. Think human foosball and human bowling, along with fireworks (first and final nights), the Sundown Parade, the River Run and other less-unexpected fair fare.

The new stuff for 2016 includes a project to build a Habitat for Humanity house on the festival grounds, a civic hackathon, artist-in-residence Rachel Hayes’ temporary installation “SunSails,” a mobile White Castle, local craft-beer tastings, paddleboat races, a sand-castle contest, and a festival within the festival saluting aviation and manufacturing. The Blacktop Nationals car show also has been added to Riverfest’s schedule.

This year’s main-stage acts cast an especially wide net stylistically, starting with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and including punk (Violent Femmes), country (A Thousand Horses and Brothers Osborne), Gospelfest, Festival of Broadway, hip-hop (Naughty by Nature), ska-punk (Reel Big Fish), blues-pop (Elle King) and hip-hop/neo soul (the Roots).

Wichita Festivals president and CEO Mary Beth Jarvis recently told the City Council: “We’re going to create both a visual and exciting festival but also one that drives the community forward in so many ways.”

The Eagle is proud to play its part again by sponsoring the Medallion Hunt. For clues to finding the medallion and all of The Eagle’s Riverfest coverage, go to Kansas.com.

Though the state’s largest special event has been less freewheeling since the main activity area was fenced in 2013, that change has curbed troublemaking. Last year’s doubling of the button price, to a still-reasonable $10 for adults, didn’t deter attendance, which surpassed 400,000. With good weather – cross your fingers – the crowds should keep growing.

Thanks are due Jarvis, her crew, and the 6,500 volunteers and 250 sponsoring businesses and organizations responsible for making this huge event happen. Each Riverfest leaves Wichita not only more mellow, but stronger as a community.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Enjoy music, food and fun at Riverfest."