2011 Festival brings in largest crowd ever

Organizers of the 2011 Festival of the Bells are saying the Friday night concert featuring The Band Perry drew in the biggest crowd in festival history, with numbers estimated near 18,000 people. 

"There is no doubt Friday night was bigger than Taylor Swift (in 2007)," said festival entertainment committee chairperson Rick Williams. "We estimated back at that time it was 17,000, give or take. So speaking with our promoters and looking out from the stage, speaking with the police department, everyone is in agreement that there were more people. Now, if that's 800 more people, or 1,000 more people, we don't know. But there was no doubt more people."

Williams is estimating that the Saturday night concert with Easton Corbin could have been the biggest Saturday they've ever had. 

"Maybe it was our biggest Saturday night that we've had, in my opinion," Williams said. "Certainly it wasn't our second largest night ever, because that would have been Taylor Swift, and our largest night was The Band Perry Concert. But we are really, really happy."

During the Friday night concert, people were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, and the view from the stage area seemed to show a wall of fans packed into the streets and sidewalks. 

Festival chairperson Michael Bradford said that though the crowd was large, the concert-goers were courteous to each other. 

"We had three great nights of entertainment, but we also had a lot of other things," Bradford said. "There was 'The Whip Guy' doing bullwhip demonstrations, the 5k run, which we moved to uptown this year. Last year they had 60 runners out at Liberty Park. This year, we were able to have 150 runners and it was very successful. We hope to make that an uptown event every year and keep making it better. Overall, it was a very good festival. It was very warm and people were packed in there pretty tight. But the crowd was very courteous and did everything we asked them to do to make more space for people. I'm sure some people were not pleased with the crowd, but most people seemed to be really happy." 

Williams said that each year the festival committee sets out to organize a bigger and better Festival of the Bells. This year, he said, they have surpassed their expectations. 

"What I think probably took place, when we booked the bands this time last year, Easton Corbin was farther along. In the past couple of months, The Band Perry has just been on fire. They've been unbelievable, and Friday night turned out to be bigger than Saturday night. Which is not a bad thing."

The work for making the 28th Festival of the Bells just as successful has already started. 

"Both groups are super nice people," Williams said. "The Band Perry just really connects to fans and Easton did, too. I go back to work and people have said, 'Rick, how do you pick a band that can outdo this one?' To tell you the truth, it's difficult. We've already started to work, and we're looking at two or three groups to investigate for next year, and hopefully, they will come out as strong as The Band Perry and Easton Corbin." 

Bradford said organizing the 27th annual Festival of the Bells was a team effort, and that each member of the committee deserves high praise. 

"It was very exciting and very rewarding," Bradford said. "We work hard every year to put on a great show and it was really special to see the reception of everyone at the festival. All around, it was a very good festival, and I have to say the committee members are great people to work with. There is no one person who does it. It's a team effort and could not have been done without each and every one of them."