The text message received from Red River Revel Chairman Michal Ostendorff Wednesday afternoon was simple and to the point. "Revel is a go."

The message from Ostendorff wrapped up days of questions surrounding the annual fete, scheduled to begin October 2. And the biggest question of all was, with cancellations of festivals all over the state due to the surge in the COVID Delta variant, would the Revel once again fall by the wayside?

In the past few days alone, events including Natchitoches' Meat Pie Festival, the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City and the big daddy of them all, the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, all have announced plans to skip 2021.

But Shreveport's Revel is full steam ahead.

Ostendorff tells KEEL that at a meeting of Revel members on Wednesday, the vote was unanimous to move ahead. "We were looking at it from the standpoint that if a mandate came from city or state we could get out of contracts," he says, "(But) they are not mandating anything. It is up to us."

The Chairman adds that this year's Revel will be a smaller festival, but that not only Revel members, but folks across the ArkLaTex are excited about it. He also says that the final announcement regarding this year's musical lineup will be coming next week.

Once again this year the Revel will feature a number of musical acts, artists' booths and food vendors from a number of non-profit organizations.

But what about the surge in COVID cases? Ostendorff says the Revel will "suggest the use" of masks where feasible (food vendors and face painters), but because the event is outdoors there will be no mask mandate. He also says there will be no vaccine or negative COVID test requirements.

This year's Red River Revel will take place October 2 through 10 at downtown Shreveport's Festival Plaza. For all the latest Revel info, including musical acts, vendors and tickets, JUST CLICK HERE!

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