Common Ground organizers say they're attendance for the six-day festival that ends tonight with shows by the Commodores and Bad Company.
As of Friday, 36,700 people flocked to the city's riverfront to groove to 70s classic rock, country and R&B. Last year - the festival's first year - about 48,000 people attended.
"We are really excited with the crowds we are getting," said Kevin Meyer, a Common Ground co-creator.
The event replaces the Michigan Festival, an East Lansing music and arts event that went bankrupt in 1998.
Meyer said crowds are larger because the festival gained more name recognition and the artist are more diverse.
Dana Moore agrees. She drove from Bannister to see Lee Ann Womack on Saturday.
"It's really nice to have the big stars come out," said Moore, 19. "You don't really see the big ones do festivals like this anymore."
By today organizers hoped to attract about 60,000 people to the event that includes two main stages, 20 national acts and 19 food vendors.
For the first time in its four years, Fiesta del Verano was held in conjunction with Common Ground.
Adding a second day allowed organizers to invite more local and state musicians and gave more people a chance to attend the Hispanic festival.
"It gives Lansing another option for entertainment, food and art," said Guillermo Lopez, volunteer entertainment coordinator. "It's nice to see the amount of diverse things that are going on in Lansing."
The fiesta offered about 10 food and art vendors, free music and information booths.
Morning rain delayed crowds Saturday, but by afternoon the plaza was filling in preparation for the event's finale - a concert inside Lugnuts Stadium with Latin recording artist Bobby Pulido and special guests Jaime y Los Chamacos.
Occasional showers didn't dampen Common Ground.
"It helped us keep the dust down a little," Meyer said.
Wednesday and Thursday were the biggest nights, drawing 10,500 each day. Wednesday's main acts were Lynyrd Skynyrd and Fuel and Thursday's were Mindy McCready and Jethro Tull.
Tuesday drew 6,500 and Friday saw 9,200 people.
The event lost more than $90,000 in 2000 when 48,174 people attended. Of those, 26,000 paid for tickets. The rest had sponsor tickets or were kids who went for free.
Contact Christine MacDonald at 377-1286 or cmacdona@lsj.com . Contact Kirsten Buys at 377-1112 or kbuys@lsj.com.