For the Frog Man, Riverfest is all about making people smile.

David Janke, also known as the Frog Man, has been selling his wooden frog instruments at Riverfest for two years and said he loves to bring his creations to the Little Rock festival.

"What I like about my frogs, it makes people smile," Janke said. "If you have a product that can make people smile, you have a gold mine."

The frogs come in many different colors and are played as a percussion instrument. Janke has been making the frogs since the 1960s, but he said the tradition is centuries old.

"They're 600 hundreds years old," he said. "The Chinese used to beat on them in frog season."

David Jenke and his wife, Bridget Jenke, who sells custom-fitted toe rings, were among the dozens of vendors at Riverfest's final day Sunday.

Vendors set up shop in tents along the length of the Arkansas River, east of Main Street to the Clinton Presidential Center, throughout the weekend. Riverfest attendees could buy anything from chocolate-covered bacon to brightly colored leggings to hand-carved and stained wooden bear statues.

Bridget Jenke said this year's crowd seemed to be younger than last year.

"The crowd is still big, but it's not the same people," she said. "We have a younger crowd here. It's the bands that they brought in."

Kelley Bass, a member of Riverfest's board of directors, said he's noticed the same thing.

"We've had a lot of regional bands," he said Sunday. "They seem to draw a younger crowd. We have The Fray tonight, so that will probably bring a younger crowd as well."

Dozens of bands performed at the festival throughout the weekend. Sunday's headliners were: Hank Williams Jr. and Jamey Johnson on the Bud Light Stage, The Fray and The Wallflowers on the Coors Light/Arkansas Federal Credit Union stage, and Surfer Blood on the Stickyz Music Stage.

Bridget Jenke said this year's younger demographic wasn't good for business.

"Young folks ain't got no money," she said. "We need them to have money."

She said she and her husband travel all the way from their home in Shelbyville, Tenn., to sell their wares at Riverfest.

Despite the decline in sales, the Jenkes said they enjoy meeting the people of Little Rock as much as anything.

"It's a great place," David Jenke said. "Even if you don't have money, we'd love to talk to you. You don't have to have money to enjoy yourself."

Michael Hall, who sold homemade pork rinds for Mountain Home Kettle Corn and Pork Rinds at the festival Sunday, said he gave out a lot of samples but didn't sell as many bags as he hoped.

"We feed a lot more than we sell," he said.

Some vendors were thankful that this year's crowd was different than in the past.

"It's been a pretty good weekend," said Cathy Coots, who worked at the Topline tent. "There's been a lot less drunk people than usual."

Coots sold T-shirts and titanium necklaces for Topline throughout the weekend.

Bass said the festival drew good crowds throughout the three-day event. He said the weather was good, too, with only a few minutes of rain Saturday.

"We've had warm temperatures but not very hot," he said.

Metro on 05/26/2014