Roots N Blues N BBQ-goers weigh in on new cashless system

This year, people who attend the annual Roots N Blues N BBQ music festival in Columbia are trading in their cash for a wristband.

It’s the first year the festival has used a radio-frequency identification wristband system as a way for people to pay vendors. The wristband also serves as the ticket for the event.

Organizers said the idea was to cut down on wait time in lines.

“Oh I think it’s really efficient and we were really impressed,” Sydney Thomas said. “Last year we were here and trying to get the cash out of the ATMs was really annoying, so this seems to be working really well.”

Festival-goers can refill their wristbands with more money at Top-Up stations with cash, credit or debit cards.

“The only inconvenience is I wish I could have loaded my card before I got here. That way, I wouldn’t have to bring my debit card and all that stuff with me,” Nick Logeman said. “If I could load the card, then get the wristband and then register it to the account that I had already set up, that’d be even better.”

People will have to pay a $5 processing fee to get back any leftover money on their account.