The 25th annual IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival was part anniversary and part homecoming Thursday night in LeClaire Park.

The festival returned to the riverfront after flooding last year forced it onto the streets of downtown Davenport.

"I think it's fantastic," said Glenn Cotabish of Davenport, a member of the marketing committee for the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.

"Last year we were kind of forced to go into the streets, and I think it turned out amazingly well, considering," Cotabish continued. "But this feels like our home, and it's good to be back."

Thursday was "Retro Night," with $5 admission for all festivalgoers. Acts from the first few years of the festival, including Saffire: Uppity Blues Women, Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings, Bo Ramsey and Cobalt Blue among the performers.

Bob Dorr and the Blue Band opened the show on the LeClaire Park band shell.

"It's fabulous. There's just so many memories that I have of the park from the peace rallies of the latter '60s when I was a high school kid," said band leader Bob Dorr, a Davenport native. "Standing back on that stage is a life-experiencing thing. ... It was 50 trips all at once."

Dorr has played the blues festival five times, but hasn't been on stage for the past decade.

He said moving the festival, as was done last year, was "a good way to make lemonade out of lemons."

"But to have it back down on the historic Mississippi River is the way it should be," said Dorr, who also hosts blues and classic rock radio shows for Iowa Public Radio.

Temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 70s, with an occasional breeze wafting from the river.

Crowd members got in line for an assortment of food and beers, danced along to the music and conversed on the park grass.

Among those enjoying the festival was Bob Elliott from Grant Park, Ill., who accompanies a local friend to the fest.

"My buddy's been pulling me here for four or five years now. We really enjoy it," Elliott said. "It's cool by the river, but it was OK downtown."

The downtown location last year caused a dip in attendance and forced the blues society to scramble to come up with seed funds for this year's fest. Between several benefit concerts and other fundraisers, most of the deficit was cleared up.

Many of the acts playing the festival offered to play at a reduced rate, not only as a nod to the organizers but because of the economy.

Cotabish said the deficit isn't on the mind of the organizers once the festival starts.

"You have to move on, you have to do what you have to do," Cotabish said.

"I feel comfortable with the way things are. We had to cut back a little bit, but I think we really came up with a nice lineup," he said.