LITTLE ROCK, AR - In an effort to control the 250,000 people expected to attend Riverfest, the board has never allowed petitioners, political campaigns or street vendors inside the barricades. But not anymore. Petitioners now flood the riverfront after forcing the Riverfest board to change their policy - citing freedom of speech.
"[Friday] afternoon right before the festival opened there were some folks here and our policy is they shouldn't be here so we asked them to get behind the barricades. And that caused some problems and people got upset about it," said Riverfest Board member Kelley Bass.
"There's lots of people coming this way and it was just much easier for us that we were just able to talk to more people," said petitioner Nancy Todd.
"They're all welcome today and tomorrow there've been no problems whatsoever," added Bass.
