The Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival will be returning to Columbia this weekend with some changes.
The festival location is one of the biggest changes- it will now be at Stephens Lake Park instead of downtown Columbia.
Richard King is the festival organizer for Roots N Blues N BBQ. He says the time was right to make change.
“It just was really difficult to put an event like this on without interfering with a lot of businesses downtown, so we felt that this was probably the time to move it and we’ve all loved the park; we think it’s a great place for it,” said King, who added the new location would affect downtown businesses but the Festival has encouraged fans to support them despite the location switch.
The Festival has set up a shuttle system to bus visitors from downtown parking garages to the festival.
Columbia Police Lieutenant Krista Shouse-Jones says it will be important to take the shuttles to the event to reduce potential traffic issues.
“There is going to be a difference this year just in the parking availability…is very limited in the park so it’s going to be even more important for folks to plan on taking the shuttle over there just to reduce the issues with parking and traffic,” Shouse-Jones said.
The Festival begins this Friday and runs until Sunday.