Matthew Leimkuehler

mleimkuehler@dmreg.com

Lazerfest, the long-standing rock festival put on by Des Moines-based radio station Lazer 103.3, will not be returning in 2016.

“It’s just time,” said Ryan Patrick, Lazer 103.3 brand manager. “In looking back, the show itself (has) been a labor of love and a lot of people put a lot of work into it. In the end, we threw 11 pretty awesome parties with close to 150,000 people.”

Past Lazerfest headliners include the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock, Rob Zombie, Alice in Chains, The Offspring, Stone Sour and other household names in rock music.

The festival changed locations numerous times during its tenure in central Iowa. From 2002 to 2011 — with a hiatus from 2004 to 2006 — it bounced between Water Works Park in Des Moines and the Indianola Balloon Grounds.

The 2012 and 2013 editions of the event were held at the Central Iowa Expo in Boone. In 2014, it took place at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines and, in 2015, after initially being scheduled for the Court Ave. bridge in downtown, it took place at Seven Flags Events Center in Clive.

During its peak years of 2010 and 2011 — at Indianola Balloon Grounds — the festival drew attendance numbers of around 25,000 and 22,000, respectively.

The festival averaged 15,000 in attendance for its two years in Boone and provided entertainment for about 10,000 concert-goers at Wells Fargo Arena in 2014. During the 2015 event, Patrick said the festival drew around 2,000 attendees on each day.

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Five Finger Death Punch and Halestorm headlined the 2015 Lazerfest, which saw a smaller venue and decreased attendance from previous years.

“There were venue challenges as the years went on,” Patrick said. “We had bounced around a little bit from the balloon field to Boone. Each of those locations had some amazing positives and some of them had some negatives, as well, that made it a challenge.”

“It's been a great event," he continued. "Last year was challenging — actually the past two years — have been challenging with the location moves. I think, in the end, even if we were back at (a) regular location, this is something we really look at because the station's at different place now than it was five years ago."

Patrick said station still plans to focus on events in the future.

“This is going to allow us to do something different in that time frame,” Patrick said.