Rustmedia already planning for Shipyard future

A rainy start to the Shipyard Music Festival on Saturday has not altered plans for the future, according to Jeff Rawson, creative director for rustmedia, who presented the festival.

Rawson said he has experienced overwhelming support from the community this year, even with the inclement weather for the inaugural event.

�The fact that folks came out and stood in the rain at noon with umbrellas, and danced without them, was incredible to see,� Rawson said.

He said the rain hampered production set up early Saturday, which lead to the later start time for the first band. Everything was drenched, Rawson said, but he and his team were prepared.

In the future, Rawson said, he will probably plan to have a lot more tented areas, in case of rain, for people to seek shelter.

�But people were cool with being out in the rain,� he said. �They were here.�

With year one under his belt, Rawson said he is looking for input from attendees, sponsors and vendors for tips on how to improve future festivals.

He said he plans to focus on, in detail, how his team can �pivot and do better� or how they can magnify what they did well for years to come.

Rawson said he has placed a lot of attention on his three-year vision for Shipyard, and is watching this year�s process �very closely.� He already has people asking the date for next year�s festival and the location, he said.

Rawson said he plans on taking a breather this week and will jump right into planning for 2019.

The long-term goal is to grow, Rawson said, and to offer more space for the festival, more space for people and more types of music.

�We had a lot of people buying tickets at the gate,� he said. �I think there was something to people seeing that this is a legitimately big deal happening downtown.�

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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