A total of 19,321 people attended the four-days of the Swiss Wine Festival, held August 27th-30th in the Paul Ogle Riverfront Park.
According to Festival President Kirk Works, record attendance numbers were reported on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“This represents a 23.7-percent increase over the 2008 total attendance,” Kirk Works said. “An additional 3,707 people enjoyed this year’s festival as compared to last year. We are extremely pleased with the tremendous turnout for this year’s festival. We contribute this record attendance to great weather and new television advertising.”
Total festival attendance in 2008 was 15,614.
On Thursday, 1,364 people attended the festival compared to 1,392 in 2008. Friday’s total attendance increased by 9.1-percent for a total of 3,385 compared to 3,104 last year.
Saturday at the festival saw 2,615 more people enjoy the festival as compared to Saturday in 2008. This represents a 29.7-percent increase. The total attendance who enjoyed all the festivities on Saturday was 11,429.
The record crowds continued to pack the riverfront on Sunday, with 3,143 people taking in the activities and events on the last day of the festival. The attendance on Sunday was up 36.4-percent.
“Since this year was a huge success, the real challenge for next year is going to be able to sustain these record number and to produce a festival that is bigger and better than this year.” Kirk Works said. “Planning is already underway for the 2010 festival.”