Good to Know: Red River Revel

Paul Reiser and Jeff Beimfohr talk with Logan Lewis about the latest happenings with the Red River Revel.

What is KTBS: Good to Know Shreveport-Bossier?

KTBS Podcasting and the Committee of 100 present Good to Know Shreveport-Bossier, a podcast series showcasing the good things happening in our area. We’ll go in-depth about economic development, community growth and other topics about initiatives that are having a positive impact in our community. We’ll have new episodes every other Wednesday. You can find the KTBS Good to Know podcast wherever you listen to podcasting. Or go to KTBS.com or KTBS Now on your streaming device to see the full interview.

Hey hello again everybody.

Welcome to Good to Know
Shreveport-Bossier.

This is our podcast showcasing
all the good

things, the positive things happening in
and around our community.

My name is Jeff.

I'm four.

Over to my right is my co-host,
Paul Reiser.

He's a member of the Committee of 105,
where I interviewed

the head guy from the Committee of 100
down in Baton Rouge this week.

Oh, the state committee, Adam Knapp.

He was pretty good anyway.

Let me move on. Okay.

This podcast focuses on topics
and initiatives

having a positive impact on our community.

And we have new episodes
every other weekend.

Excuse me, excuse me.

Every other Wednesday
and you can find good to know

wherever you listen to your podcasts
all the major platforms.

So as always, we have a special guest.

Terrific.

And the honors
to introduce them all to you.

That would be me. Don't fall asleep.

He'll get around to say your
name in about eight minutes.

Well, thank you, Jeff, for

another excellent
introduction of my introduction.

and I'm excited about it.

You're not going to believe this.

I'm so excited about the guest today,
because today we're going to be talking

about something that has been going on
for decades and the arc of the text.

But I tell you the truth,
I've been sleeping on it.

I haven't been myself in a very long time
with this year.

It was fantastic
what I've been missing out on.

You loved it.

I loved it.

There's art, there's music, there's food.

There's so much going on.

Is there any way we might find out
what this is at some point?

Oh, of course I'm talking about the Red
River Revel and Cork Wine Festival.

And today we have the executive director
of both of those, Mr.

Logan Lewis.

Logan, thanks for staying awake
during my interview.

It was a great introduction, man.
Come on. Yeah.

I was like,
the best introduction ever so far.

And welcome.

They welcome. Logan.

Thanks for coming out. Yeah.

Oh, by the way,

your initials are, like Lois Lane,
Lana Lang, all the Superman characters.

Correct. Yeah.

Lori Ramirez, the mermaid.

I love a lively alliteration.

Do you? Anyway, Logan.

So tell us a little bit about the
why we got so much to talk about as well.

What's that? Assonance.

Oh, I like you.

Well, alliteration is the repetition
of consonants, and assonance

is repetition of vowel sounds.
So I'm just. Yeah. I'm just.

Thank you.

We're educational.

There is so much to learn here. Logan had

heard about Logan, especially once
you start talking.

I learned a lot because I.

People may not even know what
I was going on with the Red River rebel.

So tell us a little bit about that.

And then we're going to get to the Cork
Festival, which is really cool too.

Yeah.

So, the Red River rebel is a nonprofit,
obviously founded 1C3 was

the festival itself was started in 1976.

it was, you know,
kind of a celebration of,

the bicentennial.

And it was created

by the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier
as a get the citizens of,

the architects.

And in 1982, they said, you know,
we got something really going here.

Let's let's start up a nonprofit
and get their determination letter,

exact hired an executive director
and had has grown

so much over the years, ever since,
you know, it was on the riverfront,

next expo hall outside of this first year.

and, you know, over the years,
it's it's gotten bigger.

They've moved the locations.

Festival Plaza was built,
I would say pretty much mostly with,

you know, our event
and my blog madness in mind.

and, then the pavilions came later, and,

you know, we've seen, some incredible
music acts.

They're amazing artists.

have come through, the festival.

It is a really awesome cultural event
that happens annually.

And then the unique thing about that
is that we created it here

in northwest Louisiana. It's our creation.

unique to us.

And so in many ways,
the citizens of the region

own it,
you know, because it's, it's our festival.

and the way that, you know, Jazz Fest
would be, you know, owned by New Orleans.

Yeah.

Or, Austin City Limits is owned by,
you know, the city of Austin.

It's a unique festival created
by the citizens that are from here.

It didn't it's not a corporate entity

that came in and said,
we want to put this on.

And I think that makes it
pretty special. right.

There's a lot of Mardi Gras parades
around, but yeah, but we didn't invent,

but we invented the Red River revel,
and that thing just is sprawling.

It is.

Well, it's Festival Plaza is huge,
but this thing fills up the entire area.

Yeah. And it goes beyond.

So we're from Market Street
all the way to, to, Cloud Fan.

It's a it's a
it's a it's a big undertaking.

and it takes a all year to plan.

we've actually already
it takes a little bit longer than a year.

Truth be told.

we we start.

I start with idea formation
for more or less the theme

or some of the bigger programs for, like
for next year's festival this past July.

So it's about a year

and a half is when we start, you know,
kind of putting the plan together.

and then by the end of the year,
those plans get a lot more solidified.

So right now,
we're we've kind of have a good idea

of what we want to do next year.

And then we have to work towards,

pulling all that

program together
to share some of those ideas.

Not yet. You can't.

But I can say one thing
that is interesting.

that will be new next year.

and we're very excited about it is,

we're changing the format
for the first time in multiple decades.

for the number of days that we do.

So typically most people would be,

if you're familiar

with the revel, would understand
that we always open on a Saturday

and we are consecutive days
through the next Sunday.

And it's open every single day at 11 a.m..

the formula itself
has gotten more difficult in recent years.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is kind of it's
a grind.

It takes a little bit more effort.

it's not always a winner.

And so, we're we're changing the format
to be a little bit

more like those festivals I mentioned
where we're going to open on Thursday

and be open for two consecutive weekends,
Thursday to Sunday.

So, the last weekend of September,

first weekend of October
will open on Thursday

and run through Sunday evening and close

from Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday in between.

And we feel like that's going
to give us an opportunity to, you know,

put our best foot forward on the best days
possible.

Those are typically the days
with the best traffic.

they're easier for people to attend.

We don't want to lose the lunchtime crowd.

You know that.

We have a lot of downtown
people come for lunch.

and we don't want to lose that.

So we still want to be open
during the week,

but the weekend is really where
most of the attention is focused.

And I think that this is going to help us,
you know, move to a new level.

It sounds like a pretty exciting change

and an important
what people need to know about that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, we were talking about it earlier.

We'll be talking about it all year long.

so people that haven't been to the revel
in a while, I've never been.

What do you expect
when you come walking in? What?

What is a red river revel?

Well, I

think the first thing you're going to see
when you come in is,

you know, there's a, like you said,
there's a lot going on, you know,

everything from, amazing artists to,

performances that can happen on stage,

and some happen just in,
you know, a corner of the festival.

You turn a corner,
you're going to discover something new.

We want people to be able to,
come in and find something that they love,

no matter what day they come,
you're going to have great food.

And of course, excellent music.

the way that the philosophy is to program
this festival, specifically when it comes

to the music and performing arts,
is that we have four stages to,

really big ones under the pavilion
and then an art alley stage,

and then one in what we call,
the DMZ or Discovery Maker Zone.

It's that where
children and families area,

and in those

four spaces, at any given point,

you know, if we have, let's say,
country music on one stage,

you're not going to find country music
on the other,

you're going to find something
completely different.

So discovery is like sort of the, the,

the fun part of being at the festival,
finding new things.

And as you mentioned, you know,

a lot of people don't realize how much,
how many great artists

that there are, there people
you might know, local artists get to,

you know, have the opportunity to,
to share their art, sell their art there.

And so there's discovery
around every corner.

And I think that's
the interesting thing about it

that, you know, it's
it's like you said, it's ours.

We created it.

But you can come and be, you know,
have your nostalgia with this things

that maybe if you've been before you,
you expect to see every single year.

But you can also find new things,
you know, at every turn.

So I'm big into,
comic books and superhero art.

You have that.

We have, yeah.

You do, I yeah,
I got to go check that. Yeah.

We have had artists that specifically
specialize in illustration for,

for comic book art. Nice.

And it looked like.

So there's local artists, people

that are just artists on the weekend
that set up a booth

and then professional artists that do this
just full time, coming in

from all over the country,
just Louisiana, all over the country,

all over the country,
and some from out of the country as well.

Okay.

We have had we have had artists
come from out of the country, you know,

the art festival industry itself.

a lot of people may not know this,
but there's only what we consider

to actual art festivals of our of our size
and caliber, in the state.

The other is in Covington,

Covington, Three Rivers,
which just happened a couple of weeks ago.

there are a lot of shows that do,

the juried art process
where you have, artists submit their work

and then they are judged and scored
and then invited based on their scores.

But the other festivals that do
that, are usually focused on music

or a specific part of their culture, food,
you know, a resource.

But our cornerstone is the art.

And so is, the case for Covington.

when you go to the East Coast,

the Midwest and the northeast,
these are really popular shows.

They happen all the time.

and there's a concentration of artists
is a lot higher.

So we do get a lot of people
from those areas

that come down for our festival
because it is unique to our area.

If you are going to try
to find another art festival like it,

you would have to go to Dallas
or Gulfport, Mississippi. So,

I think that's a really

unique thing that makes us,

sort of stand out a little bit.

the artists that come to us,
we have people that come to us from many,

many states away,

that have been coming for 20 or 30 years,
have built up a customer base.

and, you know,
they're all professional in a way.

I think the cool thing about the Red River
revel is that it has built

a culture of art here in northwest
Louisiana and East Texas that has helped

many artists
be able to sustain a full time career

in this industry
and travel to other shows.

and that's a really awesome thing
that we take a lot of pride in.

We have,
you know, this emerging artist program

where we bring people up
and show them how this works,

and how how they can be successful at it

and the culture of the artists themselves.

You know,
a lot of them really go to the same shows.

They know each other, you know,

and so it is,

you know, it's it's sort of like,
you know, that

that carnie group
that travels to the same places,

but very different, you know, much more,

highbrow, you know, and then there is,
there was so many different type.

There was

there was art, there was cartoon
looking things like def like superheroes.

And then there was like beautiful,
photography.

large prints.

And then I bought some Louisiana
art from the guy from Baton Rouge.

Yep. Chase, mon.

yes. Yeah. Fantastic.

Good friend.

So you mentioned about how the,
they come to the show.

Did they have to be invited
or did they try to garner their own spots?

They do have to be invited.

So that so we we put out an application
at the beginning of the year

and they apply and,
and they submit for photos of their art.

And one photo of the
what their booth looks like.

because that's also important
is, you know, how does it present?

and then we have a system in place

where, we have usually 5 or 6 jurors.

They have made up of people like gallery
owners or art professors or,

people who work in art councils.

They have knowledge of quality
and skill and technique,

and they just see the artist's statement
where the artist says, like, you know,

what their purpose is or what their what
their medium is and how they approach it.

and they see the pictures
and then there they are scoring

that based on several criteria
that we give them.

the rules are pretty extensive.

There's a lot of things
that are not allowed.

and this we, we model our rules
the same as other art festivals

do around the country.

You know, and we're pretty strict about it

because artists are

they're judgmental when the show is not
a certain quality, you know, they, they,

they will tend to not go to a
show if they feel like it is

trending towards

craft and not art in a high level.

And so the higher level that you have,

the more competitive that they are, the
better artists you're going to attract.

And, and it's kind of a two way street
because you have to have good artists

to attract high end buyers,

but you have to have high
embarrass, attract good artists.

So you're kind of working on
both of those things at the same time.

Catch 22. Yeah. I mean so it's just that

I don't just get to show up with my, paint
by numbers set and set up on it.

Well, one of the things that most artists
have figured out,

especially post-pandemic,
is that the key to success

and be to be really successful as this is
to diversify what your offerings are.

So if you have those large pieces
that are originals,

that are going to be a centerpiece

in someone's living room,
that may cost several thousand dollars,

you need to have other things available
that are at a lower price point,

so that people who don't quite
have that kind of, you know,

income can still participate
and get in the game a little bit.

And I think that's important.

And the artists that have done
that have had a good balance

between the two have done very well.
And they make a lot of money.

You'd be surprised, you know. Yeah.

how much they I'm not surprised.

From what I've dished out
for this painting,

I've got to go for a little one
now that I know.

But it's it's gorgeous.

So there you can pick something up

for $10 in one corner
and 10,000 in the other. Yep.

while we were in the back corner, though,
there was a great little folk band

kind of playing back there.

And then there was, you know, rock music
on the main band, on the main stage.

So there was entertainment.

It was going on all the time.

Is there always music happening?

We do, during the week at lunch.

We do just music on the main stage.

and that's really more
just for an entertainment value.

But we have also started this past year

and we're going to continue to push this
because I love the I loved it.

We got great support
from, from Liz Swain on this is, a,

a lunch.

I wouldn't call it lunch and learn,
but I would call it, you know,

lunch learning in a way.

but we had panels and speakers
to talk about several different topics

on the other depo stage,
and it was short 45 minutes.

but, you know, interesting to those
who are in a professional setting.

So we talked about, you know, some of the
historical tax credits for buildings.

We talked about,
you know, the current rules lately.

Yeah. We talked. Yeah.

That was it was and it was at the time,
like that was really interesting.

there were several topics
that, that we had.

Some were starting your own business
and things like that.

It was really interesting.

And and I think that that, that is perfect

for where
I see the future of the festival going.

I know you want to ask me
about this later,

but I just wanted to point out that it's

one of those things
that we're starting to add to the festival

that really makes it become sort of
like the communal table where there's,

this is a place where community gathers
and where community happens.

It's kind of like, who was at San Diego
Comic-Con for lack of that.

They they do that with panels
on the books, in various movies,

television shows, all the kind of stuff
that they do that people come in and they

they have the panels up on the stage
and they ask them questions.

It's some of my favorite things
that happen, you know, and,

and one of the things that I,
when we go talk to other festival owners

and go to conferences and stuff and hear
what people are really interested in,

the one thing that a lot of, festival
writers are looking for

now is added value in their festivals
that, you know,

today, in today's culture,

people don't just want a good music

and some good food,
you know, and, and a good atmosphere.

They want to be able to have that
and have something that they can take away

personally, something

like whether that's a learning experience
or something valuable,

a valuable experience is really
what people are for.

So workshops, seminars,

you know, interactive opportunities
for people to get involved

or ways that they can, you know, further

their personal brand on social media
by taking great pictures and video.

You know, those are types of things
that draw people, you know.

Well, it was good food.

We I walked around a couple of times like,
what am I going to get?

So I finally just got everything.

I got like a turkey leg and a euro and a
and a quesadilla and a cinnamon roll.

Oh my gosh,
these are art and a big piece of art.

So we're going to talk about the cork in
just a minute.

Cork Festival because that's super cool.

But just one thing that was impressive
amazing to me is what an impact

this air
this event has economically on the area.

So tell me just a little bit about that,

how much money it brings to the area
and how that compares to other things.

So, the last time that we did a economic

impact study was probably two
years, 2 or 3 years ago. And,

it was more than

$5 million and,
you know, and direct impact to the area.

And, you know, our budget,

is 86% of it is spent

in kind of a budget parish.

so even though we're bringing
in all these music acts from across,

across the world, it's it's only 10% or
so of our budget, really.

I mean, we we it takes a lot to put this
on people and realize how much it takes.

You know,
when you think about all the vendors

and the security and,
you know, the, the rentals and, and,

just the supplies alone,
the supplies are very expensive.

and insurance,
I mean, the all these vendors

we are very focused on, on, you know,
spending our money in our region.

And then beyond that, you know,
you have the revel itself, just us.

We spend,

on hotel rooms for our traveling artists.

More than a thousand hotel room
nights for for the festival.

Oh, wow.

just for our artists.

That doesn't even include

all the hotels that the artists
who were coming in for a week are buying.

And, you know,
those who are coming in for the festival,

how much money

that they spend with our vendors,
because the food vendors are a mix of,

for profit and nonprofit organizations
that use this festival,

they do very well with it.

as a way to make money.

And so, that spreads out all the,
you know, what we call t shirts careers,

private professional security,
our local citizens, our local police,

EMS, get paid directly.

And so when you think about how
that spreads out

just from our organization
and what we spend,

not to mention what the the general public
who is coming in

and we we have great tools at our disposal
to tell where they're coming from.

it's not just the citizens
of Shreveport-Bossier that are that are,

you know, spend their money at the revel.

It is, I would say, the majority for sure.

but we have a lot of folks
that come from East Texas.

And this past year we did a little bit
of a different marketing campaign

and spread our wings
very wide in a digital way,

but very targeted,
to an art buying audience.

And we saw a great increase of people
coming from Austin and Dallas and Houston,

from Jackson, Mississippi, little Rock,

Alexandria and Baton Rouge,
specifically to look at the art.

And they spent money. And that is huge.

I mean, all of those artists,
they still have to pay, you know,

their Caddo and state taxes
after the festival is over. So.

Well, we did that night and it was
it was beautiful.

It was packed,

even though we had to park a little
distance away, felt very safe walking out.

Felt safe with all that.

Some people tell me, you,
I don't want to go downtown at night,

you know, but I felt safe.

Had y'all keep so safe down there.

Well, there's, a couple of people
that deserve credit for that.

I would say
the first is obviously our city,

our facilities.

People with the, with spa

have worked so hard

to improve the facilities downtown,

improve the lighting in the approach
areas for the festival.

and it's been an ongoing effort

over the last several years
to improve the quality, that people see.

That's a huge thing that most people
don't realize.

That is, it can make or break
an experience when you're

walking towards a festival,
all the street lights are out.

There's, you know, broken sidewalks
and things like that.

It just doesn't feel
it makes you feel differently,

when it's clean, when there's sufficient
lighting, the approach is nice.

Even if the businesses are closed
on the way.

it doesn't
it doesn't give you that negative feeling.

and we also have great partnerships
with, with Shreveport Police Department,

our, professional security
services and, the EMS to,

you know, put a perimeter around the,

the festival and ensure that everybody's
enjoying themselves, safely.

And then, of course, again,
I really do believe that the lighting

inside Festival Plaza, same thing
as outside, makes all the difference.

So when you have,

you know, facilities, people
that understand

that type of thing as well,
and they work hard to help

create an atmosphere
that feels and looks good.

That is going to be something
that subliminally that makes people feel

a lot safer
and more comfortable to be there.

This thing is quite expansive.

Any idea how many people it takes
to put this on every year.

Oh wow.

Well I know that we have 60 to 75,000
people attend.

okay.

And the interesting thing
about the festival that may maybe not

a lot of people know is that we do
only have two full time staff members.

really we do.

And we have a contract worker
that is works more than part time.

on marketing and on the farmer's market.

And then we hire, you know, usually
about two seasonal people,

to work in our office before
and after the rest of

everything else is all volunteer
led and run the league.

of course,

we pay our vendors, the Shreveport police
and the professional security services.

We have, a staffing agency
that does, cleanup on site

throughout the festival,
while it's going on.

And, there's city workers,
that are doing maintenance

and, and upkeep and, and of course,

you know, EMS is on site as well.

So, gosh,

I don't know how many people it takes
to put it on, but I know that we have 1000

volunteer positions, shifts,
you know, more

than a thousand volunteer shifts
for every festival.

So how do you
how do you get the volunteers?

And also you talk to me
about a membership opportunity for people

that's a fundraiser,
but it's also cool to be a member.

Yeah.

We have a really great,
volunteer, platform that we use called

Venmo that, is really simple
for people to sign up for.

And then once they sign up one time,
then they can just go and click a button

and they can sign up for any shift.

And it's, it's been very helpful to us
to sort of keep track of everything.

it's not really like a CRM where we can go
back and like, send a bunch of emails

and stuff like that.

It's more just like, this helps us
communicate when your shift is coming.

So there's some settings in there,
like you can get

text alerts or email alerts or whatever
to remind people what they signed up for.

And, it takes a lot of asking

from our team, to, to build it.

We kind of have to build that team.

a lot of people would love to volunteer,

but the one thing that they haven't had
yet is they haven't been asked.

And that's what it takes, you know, is for
somebody to ask them to join,

the fun.

And it is a lot of fun,
to volunteer at the festival.

our group has a great time.

I mean, they really do.

You're looking at me like I should
volunteer. You said it was cool.

So you're coolest guy I know.

Oh, come on, you need to be more people.

You always ask these questions,
but he has it.

So people do want to get involved,
and they want to find out how to,

take part in this.

How do they get in touch?

You're asking now? We're asking?

Yeah, I just
I mean, our website. There you go.

Red River rebel.com. That's where it's at.

Yeah, it's a really great resource.

Overcome red River rebel.com.

Red River rebel.com.

Another that escapes you right has red.

And then also on that website under
the donate portion is a membership

called the 76 club, which is named after,
the year that we were started in 1976.

it's a throwback to that.

And, we, we really think about it as a,
just a standard membership, kind of like

your alumni dues for your university
or something like that.

that includes tickets to, the festival
and then, recognition in the guidebook

and on some of the big signage that's on
the site, on the site, as well as,

a number of like 1 or 2 VIP, balconies

tickets and, and then invitations
to other special events.

So one of the special events
that we do is in June, we will announce

and reveal our, poster and music lineup.

And so we have a party for that.

That's specifically for our, membership
and our sponsors.

and, you know, people will come and eat
great food and get to see what

we're planning for the festival this year.

It's the big reveal, and it's a way
that we show appreciation and also keep

people sort of inside the organization
and make them feel connected.

And there's like a VIP tent at the yeah,
yeah, RB is awesome.

It's I'm thinking about joining

just so Jeff and I can walk up
and I make him stay outside.

That's see that?

And that's what VIP is all about.
That's what it's all about.

Yeah.

The, the VIP is,
right next to the main stage.

we have, some local artists that help

us, to decorate and make it look awesome.

and it's got great lighting in there,
and it just it looks really great.

And we had a farmhouse table in there

with, great couches and a TV
with the football games on, and, you know,

free beer and wine and there's snacks and,
you know, giveaways.

We had some merch and stuff to give away.

And and it's not that expensive
to become a VIP member when, you know,

the membership for a year is $250
for an individual or 500 for a household.

I don't see how you could get ahead
if you have all you could drink here

in Phoenix.

Some of the guys I know,
we got about a minute left here, man.

We didn't even talk about Cork.

Oh, we'll get in it real quick.

Quick, tell me about the cork Wine Fest.

Cork Wine Festival is our, since this
year, the Red River revels in the fall.

Yeah. And in the spring.

Spring is the cork. Fine.

Yeah, it's
it's always the first weekend of April.

First Saturday of April. It's three hours.

tickets are $100.

we put those on sale
within the next month or so.

you know, usually by the end
or beginning of the year.

And can you go to your website
and get on the list?

You can hit, okay, try over 100

wines, tastings from,
you know, a dozen food vendors.

and it's the social event of the spring,
and it's real wine, too.

It's not just like cold duck

or some sweet stuff, like you said,
you know, that's have style.

We have that.

But yeah, we have, we have vintners
that come that are serious vintners

that you said duckhorn comes out
and yeah, Duckhorn is one of my favorites.

The other thing I
the vineyard Town center.

Yeah. He comes out and he's a good time.

He's a he's a wealth of knowledge. He's
a ball of energy.

Is fun to hang out with and drink
wine with.

and so yeah, it's a must come back
just to talk about this,

talk about the wine festival,
because that's super cool, too.

So you got the red, red, red, red river.

Revel in the fall. Go for it.

Yeah. Wine in the spring.

And, and you're working all year
round to make all this hats, right?

So very cool, man. Sounds good.

Logan. Louis. Logan. Louis, right?

Yeah. Louis
sounds like a super man character.

Oh, well, that's good to know.

Shreveport-Bossier.
Thanks for being here, everybody.

As always,
this has been good to know. Hey.