Rock the Rapids won’t return for 2014; organizers continue to eye future options for music festival

Returning to Fifth Third Ballpark in 2013 after losing money on its downtown festival, Rock the Rapids continues to look for ways to bolster its finances and find an appropriate site.

 

Rock the Rapids won’t be back in 2014, but organizers of the music festival say they hope to return next year, possibly in a new location.

The music festival that returned to Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park last year after two years in downtown Grand Rapids will “step back for a year” as it attempts to build equity with its finances and bolster its nonprofit board.

“It made sense to step back for a year from the festival side,” said organizer Dan McCrath of Blue Cap Entertainment, stressing that an announcement will be forthcoming about some Fifth Third Ballpark concerts which will essentially take the place of Rock the Rapids this summer. Those concerts would be sponsored by Blue Cap and the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Last year’s three-day Rock the Rapids festival in August at Fifth Third Ballpark featured ZZ Top, Daughtry, Thompson Square and others, after a previous year in downtown Grand Rapids that spanned six days with the likes of Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Shinedown, Evanescence, Boyz II Men and B.o.B.

But McCrath said the downtown festival lost a considerable amount of money and staging Rock the Rapids at the ballpark poses problems in trying to book several dates for a major festival around the schedule for the West Michigan Whitecaps minor league baseball team.

Still, organizers are hopeful they can make Rock the Rapids a successful multi-day affair in the future, while seeking an alternative site for the festival. “There’s a lot of people that like the brand,” McGrath insisted.

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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