More vendors, shuttles, and busses at the Roots N Blues festival

More than 10,000 people are expected in Columbia this weekend for the annual Roots N Blues N BBQ festival.

This will be the second year the festival is at Stephens Lake Park in east Columbia.

The park allows for more ticket sales since there is more space.

However, parking is limited.

Festival organizers urge everyone to park at the parking garages in downtown Columbia.

All garages will be free to the public this weekend.

Free shuttles will take people back and forth between Stephens Park and the garages.

Como Connect, the local bus service, will also be free this weekend and take people to and from the park.

“We have a better feel of how this works in the park. The good news is the layout of the park I think is great. There were a lot of things that went right last year, and the problems that we had were all good problems, large crowds.” said Richard King, organizer for the Roots N Blues festival.

Large crowds ended up resulting in long lines.

King told ABC 17 News the beer lines should be shorter this year since there will be more vendors plus a beer garden.

There will also be less selling of draft beer, since filling up cups took longer than selling cans.

Therefore, more vendors, more canned beer, more shuttles, and double the amount of porta-potties should better accommodate the large crowds.

“The other thing about this is we are keeping track of the ticket counts. So right up until we open the gates on Friday, I’ll know exactly how many tickets we have sold, and if we have to make adjustments we will,” said King.

With thousands of people in one place, safety is always a priority.

King told ABC 17 News there will be 40 security guards in the park at all times.

Columbia police and firefighters will also be there.

King said in his several years of running the festival there have never been security issues.

While King is retiring from owning his downtown bar and concert venue, the Blue Note, he said he’s far from done with Roots N Blues.

“You know I will be here next year. They are not going to push me out the door quite yet, but for the Blue Note, yes I will be and that’ll be rough,” said King.

The Roots N Blues Festival begins at 4 p.m. Friday and will end around 9 p.m. Sunday.