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Roots N Blues Fest wraps three days of music in Stephens Park [slideshow]

The 7th annual Roots N Blues N BBQ festival has wrapped up after three days full of events.

 The festival kicked off Friday at Stephens Lake Park in Columbia, Missouri and featured roots and blues artists such as Steve Earle and ZZ Ward.

This is the first year the festival was held outside of downtown, but most fans didn’t seem to mind the change of venue.

"Whenever you’re downtown you were swimming through people, you couldn’t get from one place to another, it was really hard to find the stages," said Columbia resident Mason Marlett. He says he has been to the festival the past three years and that this year is completely different. "When we first got here we were like whoa completely different, you can see both stages from the top of the hill, it was awesome."

Stephens Lake Park didn’t allow parking, so fans were shuttled to and from the festival all weekend. Columbia resident John Gillis said he was also excited for the venue change but that directions on how to get there could have been clearer. "It was a long wait in the bus line and it was a little awkward with the parking. It wasn’t as clear as it could have been in the signs where exactly you’re going," he said.

Festival coordinators predicted a decline in ticket sales compared to the previous years but say sales did exceed expectations.

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