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Happy Friday,

No one talked about it, but there had been some nervousness in the past few years about the future of the Firefly Music Festival.

While numbers have never been released, vendors had reported fewer attendees. That changed in 2018.

The higher attendance was cited by ESG  Presents as the reason for buying out remaining stock in the festival held by Chicago-based Red Frog Events.

The giant promotions company bought a stake in Firefly a few years ago but had never put its considerable muscle to work in building the festival, which was largely managed by Red Frog.

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ESG will keep key managers in place while adding a booker of performers. (See story below).

It isn’t easy to keep a music festival fresh every year, given the changing nature of the music business, tour schedules of top performers,  and the fickle tastes of millennials and Xers.

But Firefly, with the help of and a promoter with deep pockets and expertise at running the flagship Coachella fest,  may have the wind at its back.

A healthy economy is helping, as well as a music business that has come up with a formula that has consumers paying for streaming and subscription service. Making an unlikely comeback are LP records as well as streaming services offering albums in their entirety.

Performers are comfortable with posting online videos and touring, even if they don’t have a hit single.

This year’s Firefly did well, in spite of not having a  household name other than still edgy Eminem.

Firefly has provided a badly needed boost to the tourism economy of Kent County, although much of the money stays on site with options like luxury camping.  Dover  Motorsports,  the owner of the property also gets a financial boost from its agreement with the promoter.

The changeover is good news,  and if they want to book Beyoncé or a geezer act or two, have at it.

Have a good weekend and if you have some time, check out the Ladybug Music  Festival in Wilmington.  See you on Monday. – Doug Rainey, publisher.

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