Rothbury ticket sales 'strong'

Thu, May 22, 2008    to del.icio.us

ROTHBURY — Ticket sales for the Rothbury music festival have been "strong and steady," according to Director of Communications Carrie Lombardi.

Although organizers would not provide exact sales numbers, Event Producer Jeremy Stein said they are expecting more than 35,000 people for the festival, which will be held on 280 acres of the Double JJ Resort July 3-6.

Capacity for the all-ages venue is 50,000 people.

Lombardi said 90 percent of the festival-goers will be camping, with portable bathroom facilities available. Special VIP areas with RV hook-ups and small cabins are also a part of the festival grounds.

Most of the tickets left are for camping areas, although a small number of VIP cabin tickets are still available, Lombardi said.

All tickets include the entire four days of musical acts and other entertainment. Day passes will not be made available — a decision planners say was intentional.

"It's all part of creating a community vibe at Rothbury," said Lombardi. "We want people who are committed to living here for those four days, to being a part of that community. We think it's more fun that way."

Organizers say the Double JJ site, in the small town of Rothbury, should easily be able to handle the thousands of people, along with multiple stages, art exhibits, a general store and farmer's market.

"Having the space is not the issue," said Stein. "The beauty of (Rothbury) is that it's not a festival in a big flat field, like a lot of festivals are. The difficulty is that it's not a festival in a big flat field. We're going to have to have a lot of long cable runs (for lighting and power)."

The festival will also have a command center fully staffed with emergency personnel, as well as sanitation and traffic workers, so as to not put a drain on the town's resources.

Besides the national music acts, organizers want to give the festival as much of a local flair as possible. This will be most evident in the "Sherwood Forest" area, a wooded pathway between the stages.

Under a canopy of pine trees, the forest will house local art displays and coffee shops. Street performers will stroll among the trees and local theater groups will be giving performances.

"It's going to be a large art space — a place for people to just get lost and check things out," said Stein. "We want to let the community and local theater groups have a large say in what happens here."

Lombardi said a full schedule of musical acts should be released within the next two weeks.

"I think we're on track for a really successful event," she said.

Ticket and venue information is available on the Rothbury Web site, www.rothburyfestival.com.