Davenport's largest summer festival kicks off today. 30,000 people are expected to attend "River Roots Live" this weekend. As of Friday morning, dozens of tents, vendors stands, and the stages are set up building the anticipation before the event kicks off at 11 AM.
River Roots Live is a music festival paired with Ribfest and each year between 20,000 and 30,000 people head into LeClaire Park for all of the fun, music and food.
It's the 8th year for the event and festival directors say the popularity for the event keeps growing. For the past few years, River Roots Live has been paired with Ribfest which allows the festival to expand and fulfill requests for more ribs and Bar-B-Que.
As for the music: Better then Ezra and Keller Williams with the Travelin' McCourays are headlining this weekend, followed by 14 other bands throughout Friday and Saturday afternoon.
Aside from the food and the music, River Roots Live is also a big part of raising money for concerts at the river music experience and music education for kids. Despite how much the festival raises and how big the event is, it won't cost you much to get in.
"Anywhere else on the planet this festival will cost a lot more money. The level of talent that we have at this show and the BBQ to either come down here for free or 5 bucks, depending when you get here, that's about a good of deal as we can provide. And the weather looks like it's going to be incredible," said Kyle Carter of The Downtown Davenport Partnership.
Carter tells us they've had more years with rainy weather then they've had with sunshine. So far, the weather looks as though it could be perfect for the event, it's expected to be sunny and in the low 70's.
The event goes from 11AM – Midnight on Friday and Saturday. Admission is free until 5PM, after that it costs $5 to get into the festival.
