What can I say about Riverbend? As a native Chattanoogan I've been forced to live through this festival once a year for the past 20 years. Riverbend is'nt what you would excatly call ""family friendly"". Sure its great for anyone 15 to 30 without kids. Riverbend takes place along the River that flows directly through our ""beautiful"" city. It attracts quite an unsavory crowd. 80% of the people who attend the festival are drunk by the time they arrive and allow themselves many more through the duration of the festival. With 100,000 people squirming and sliding past one another through the 1/4 mile area that the festival quarantines off from the rest of the city youll be lucky if youre seperated from your children only a few times. Shootings, numerous DUI's, and Drunk driving accidents are a common place once the festivities wind down each evening releasing the seveal thousand intoxicated Chattanoogans into the streets of our fair city. Bring ear plugs for the little ones as the thunderous music from Riverbends multiple stages isnt the only thing you should shield their small ears from. Shouts of profanity can be heard for miles around as red necks, thugs and many other categories of people push past one another with little more room than is needed to even breathe. Riverbend looks good to the city but as a citizen it is probably the most dreaded time of year. Worrying wether I'll be run off the road by a drunk driver while making my way through the outskirts of the downtown area. Not to mention the horendous parking situation chattanooga is met with as cars line the shoulders and medians of the freeways and pedestrians begin to make thier way into downtown. My personal advice avoid the Riverbend Festival wherever possible. Unless you enjoy being packed in the streets with 100,000 other drunk, sweaty, profane Chattanoogans.
Pros: all sorts of music
Cons: drunks, crowdedness, and all around disrespect for families
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