The great risk of rain did little to deter festival lovers from making a crowd at the Bud Light Summer Stage event Saturday. 

The entertainment festival, which was presented by the Champaign Center Partnership and sponsored by many Campustown businesses, consisted of five bands on two separate stages. The Pinnacle Vodka Stage hosted country band the Feudin’ Hillbillies, while the Wright Street Summer Stage welcomed bands including The Struggle, Dirty Feathers, Elsinore and Sun Stereo. 

An eclectic audience came together for a variety of music. 

“We see a great diversity in the crowd. I think that’s the key,” said T.J. Blakeman, executive director of the Champaign Center Partnership. Blakeman said the biggest difference, among other changes, between this year and last year was the addition of the second stage. 

“Last year was our first year of Summer Stage. This year we brought on more corporate sponsors. Bud Light came on, which was big for us and allowed us to expand the festival to two stages instead of one. It expanded the entire footprint of the festival. We were able to close both Sixth Street and more of Green Street,” he said. 

The event also allowed local bands to showcase their music to new audiences due to a greater turnout than last year. Andrew Kling, member of Dirty Feathers, a local band who performed at Summer Stage last year, explained how great such reception is for a local band. 

“It’s awesome,” Kling said, “We’ve been playing throughout town for a couple years now, and it’s really nice to play to new people as much as we can. I saw a lot of new faces out there tonight.”

Rainy weather had been predicted for both before and after the outdoor event; in spite of this, Blakeman remained calm. 

“I have a really good weather app on my phone. It gives me (the forecast) every hour, even down to the minute. I was calm. I wasn’t too worried,” he said. 

The Champaign Center Partnership hopes for an even better turnout next year. 

“We can expect even more. The point is to try and continue to grow it, to change it, to improve it and I think we will continue to do that. Our whole existence is to promote downtown, midtown and campustown, and this is one of our premiere events. So, we’re going to keep it and keep working that way,” Blakeman said. “The whole point of this festival is to reintroduce campustown to people from all across the community and of all demographics because we have such wonderful businesses and such wonderful changes happening, and we want to show that off.”  

Austin can be reached at [email protected].