Trekfest Director Kevin Meller gave a report to the Riverside City Council August 7. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

A discussion of this year’s Trekfest was had at the Riverside City Council meeting August 7.

Trekfest Director Kevin Meller gave a report on what went well for this year’s festival, and offered suggestions of improvements to be made for next year. Meller described a problem that occurred for the five bands that performed at Hall Park, “We discovered that metal roof on the stage is not necessarily conducive for rock bands, the vibrations of all the speakers and stuff, the bands couldn’t hear each other while they were playing, so we need to look at soundproofing. We’re thinking spray foam up there would stop the vibrations from the metal roof but I want someone smarter than me, someone on the sound side of it to go up there and take a look.”

Meller also suggested the city do a summer concert series to suss out technical sound issues with the stage. Meller said he is considering applying for a Washington County Riverboat grant to help fund stage improvements and get more electrical power wired in the park. Councilperson Robert Schneider Jr. says, “Comments, Kevin, from the people that were down there. When you have your bouncy toys and that the parents appreciated that it didn’t cost them anything and the kids had a great time and there were a lot of kids there for a lot of hours. And I think that’s a positive to bring family back into the Trekfest celebration. I think it went very well for the first time out you organizing it.”

Meller says the festival brought in around net $23,000. Meller says he was satisfied with the number of who attended the festival, especially when stacked up against other events that occurred in the area that weekend.