U.S. Festivals Strong

When the economy’s in a funk, festival business isn’t expected to be booming, but three recent events proved otherwise.

The Essence Music Festival at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans pulled a new record July 3-5 with 428,000 in attendance.

The second edition of Rothbury drew more than 30,000 for a four-day fest at the Double JJ Resort in southwestern Michigan July 2-5.

In New York, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s annual Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival also fared well, attracting 12,027 concertgoers for the June 27-28 weekend, a 1 percent increase over last year.