The per-ticket cost of RiverFest is going down in 2013, and the entertainment should be more familiar to local audiences.

“We’re working to get more local bands to play than we have in the past and dropping the ticket price to make it easier for a family of four to come out for a night of entertainment,” RiverFest board member Allen Karel said.

RiverFest’s 26th edition is scheduled for April 19 and 20.

“We’re lowering the admission price to $10,” chairman Johnny Lee Reynolds Sr. said. “That is something we’re committed to.”

The board’s changes are coming in the wake of a study by North Star Destination Strategies of Nashville, which found a common visitor complaint was the $20 cover charge for evening events.

According to the North Star study, RiverFest 2012 had a total economic impact on Vicksburg of $598,400, with visitors spending about $150,900 at the festival and $447,500 in the city outside of the festival for meals, lodging and at local businesses and attractions.

“Our theme for this year’s event is ‘Bring it Back Home,’” Karel said.

That means, Reynolds said, making RiverFest more family-friendly with events featuring more local and regional talent, encouraging more church groups to have booths and more daytime entertainment to attract younger people.

“We want families to come out to RiverFest, enjoy themselves and the entertainment, and have a good time without it costing them a lot of money,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to have more local performers.”

Hiring local bands, Karel said, recognizes the area’s talent and gives them an opportunity to perform and get exposure to a larger audience.

“There is a vault of talent in the 90 miles around Vicksburg,” said Bill Seratt, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director.“ I think lowering the price and bringing in regional talent is a great idea. These regional acts have a great following.”

In the past, Reynolds said, RiverFest featured a musical program headed by a national or regional artist with some local and regional acts mixed in. In 2012, country music star Easton Corbin headlined the entertainment and performed for the Friday program, with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Honey Island Swamp Band, both from New Orleans, performing on Saturday.

Performers also included Bobby Rush and local groups Vicksburg Band Camp, The Chill and the Patrick Smith Band. In 2011, country music star Brantley Gilbert headlined the acts, while Jason Michael Carroll headlined in 2010, with The Chill, the Tiptops of Mobile, Ala., and the Mayhem String Band of Oxford also performing.

“Bands like Patrick Smith and The Chill always get a good draw because they’re popular local bands and that helps us out, ” Karel said.

He said the bands’ following and success at RiverFest is one reason for including more local bands in the future.

“It gives people a chance to come see people they know performing,” he said.

One of RiverFest’s first moves to increase local acts was a battle of the bands between three Vicksburg bands at Saturday’s Fall Festival.

The winner, Propeller Head, will open that Saturday’s entertainment lineup. Another band, Anna Belle, will open the Friday events, and Pizza Punks will perform Saturday.

“We’ll start booking bands a few weeks from now,” Karel said. “We’re not ruling out getting out a headliner to perform. That headliner may have ties to Vicksburg. We don’t know yet.”

“We would like our headliner to be local,” Reynolds added.

Karel said RiverFest will continue to provide a mix of musical styles for visitors, which the North Star study said was one of the major attractions visitors liked.

“Any band that wants to perform at RiverFest can submit a CD or tape to the committee,” he said. “For information on how to contact the committee, all they have to do is go to our website at riverfestms.com.”