Downtown Alive! is partnering with Festival International to introduce a digital wristband payment system, to be unveiled at the first concert of the spring season next week.
The system, called "Filo," has been in development for over a year by Festival International, who started using a similar payment system in 2017. Downtown Alive! will be the first local event to utilize the Filo system for payments, according to a release from Downtown Lafayette Unlimited.
"Downtown Alive! has used tickets for over 35 years. It's worked for us, but there have definitely been drawbacks," said Anita Begnaud, CEO of Downtown Lafayette Unlimited, the nonprofit organization that produces Downtown Alive! "We saw the success that Festival had with their wristbands and once we realized it was possible for us to use them, we saw it as an opportunity. We want to take our event to the next level and make things easier on our end, but also for our customers, to buy beverages and merchandise at DTA!."
The new system is expected to result in shorter lines, faster transactions, and to eliminate the need to keep track of cash or tickets.
Radio frequency chips are in the wristbands, loaded with an account balance that can be used to check out at any DTA! beer booth, bar, or merchandise area. Users can set up an account through the Filo app to automatically top-out their balance without having to stand in line.
Any unused money in the account balance will remain for the next week's Downtown Alive or Festival International in April.
The system will be unveiled at the first Downtown Alive! spring concert on March 13.
Find a full lineup for the spring season of Downtown Alive! HERE.
More information on the Filo payment can be found here.
