Ellen Buchanan, Founder of River City Roots Fest, Instructs Students

Founder of River City Roots fest, Ellen Buchanan, visited MGMT 401 Event Management in the Entertainment Management program on October 19. Buchanan drafted the idea for a free late summer  downtown street festival in Missoula. She worked with the Missoula Downtown Association to promote the festival. Buchanan has experience from planning the Blue Plum festival in Johnson City, TN.

Buchanan explained to students the many facets of producing and promoting an outdoor downtown street festival. It took Buchanan two years to convince the Missoula Downtown Association to take on the leg work of sponsorships and staffing.  She indicated that the goal of the Roots festival is to celebrate what Missoula is. On the other hand, the motivation for having a downtown festival in Johnson was to bring business to a lifeless district without college students over the summer.

Buchanan's main role is purchasing talent for the festivals. She explained to students that artists' rates increase for festivals due to soft ticket prices, or to their misconception that each festival has huge revenue streams to pay for music. Country, Rock, and Pop are far too expensive for downtown free festivals. She has inherently chosen bands she enjoys in the Americana Folk genre. Past performers at the Roots festival include Great American Taxi, Donna and the Buffalo, The Gourds, and Emmitt Nershi Band.