Mayor-President Kip Holden announced to a stadium full of country music fans that Bayou Country Superfest will definitely happen again next year.
He did not, however, disclose any information about the festival’s future location.
Details about the 2012 Superfest have been in question since December, when the East Baton Rouge Metro Council decided to strip the mayor-president’s budget of $300,000 meant to sponsor the festival.
Scott Dyer, spokesman for Holden’s office, told The Daily Reveille in January the city’s current budget situation will make it difficult to find $300,000 elsewhere to sponsor the show, and promoters could move it to another location.
Festival Productions, Inc., the production marketing company for Superfest, told The Daily Reveille more information about the 2012 Superfest would be released closer to the fall.
Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he would do everything he could to keep Superfest in Baton Rouge.
“I would like to work with the mayor to try to bring this back to Baton Rouge, and I am confident it can be done — especially with 2012 being a bicentennial year for Louisiana — as this is a major event for the state’s capital,” Arrigo said.
Arrigo said Festival Productions put in more than half a million dollars of advertising for national publicity, making the event “priceless” in economic development and branding for the city.
“This is the single largest non-sporting event to bring visitors from all over the country and some foreign countries to LSU,” he said. “It has national and international implications for Baton Rouge.”
With approximately 75,000 people in attendance this year, Arrigo said local hotels did well and were better prepared to handle the influx of people.
Joe Alleva, LSU athletic director, said in a news release that Superfest was a spectacular event to have in Tiger Stadium.
“It’s something I hope will continue for many, many years to come,” Alleva said in the release. “It’s a great situation and a great event for LSU, and it’s a great event for Baton Rouge and the state of Louisiana.”
Melissa McDowell, biological sciences sophomore, has attended Bayou Country Superfest for the past two years. She said the festival is a good deal because she can hear songs from a variety of artists rather than a traditional one artist concert.
“I’ve been impressed with the people they get to perform,” McDowell said. “I think people like coming to Tiger Stadium — brings back memories of football, and it’s a fun place to be. But even if it moves, I’d still make the trip.”
Quint Davis, producer and director of Bayou Country Superfest said in a news release that it has taken a village to raise the child of Superfest.
“The second annual Bayou Country Superfest fulfilled the promise of the first festival, to be a one-of-a-kind experience that acquires a life of its own,” Davis said in a Superfest news release. “The 2011 Bayou Country Superfest had all the magic of last year, and now with two successful years as a foundation, the festival has tremendous momentum as we look to move the event into the future.”
 
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Contact Morgan Searles at [email protected]