By Casey Phillips, Chattanooga Times Free Press

Finding enough funding, unraveling the tangle of bureaucratic red tape and booking the right acts are all major hurdles to getting a music festival to succeed.

But ultimately, it all comes down to Mother Nature, local festival organizers said.

From smaller, one-day affairs with a handful of artists to sprawling events such as Riverbend, success or failure hangs on the weather more than any other factor, they said.

“The weather is probably the biggest situation you can’t do anything about,” said Paul Smith, who works with operations at the Chattanooga branch of Texas-based Palo Duro Records. The label is planning to host the inaugural year of their Chattahippie Americana music festival in September.

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