JOHNSTOWN — Organizers of the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival don’t expect any sophomore jinx.

In fact, as the second edition of the renamed, revamped event kicks off Friday evening, they’ve continued to add, subtract and tweak in an effort to maximize entertainment at Johnstown’s Festival Park.

“I don’t know that it’s so much ‘lessons learned’ as it is an evolution,” said Todd Wagner, the festival’s co-chairman.

Johnstown Area Heritage Association last year changed the name, date and format of what had been known as FolkFest. They pared stages from four to three and began requesting a $10 donation at the gate.

It was aimed at focusing more on musical performances and, as one administrator said at the time, making the festival “more of a destination-type music event” with higher-profile headliners.

One change at this year’s festival is the revision of the donation to a true admission charge. Tickets are $5 for Friday night and $10 each for Saturday and Sunday.

Today is the last day that festivalgoers can purchase a discounted $20 pass for all three days online at www.jaha.org.

Organizers say the admission charge is necessary given the performances that are scheduled: Headliners Los Lobos and Robert Cray, for instance, have eight Grammy awards between them.

“The level of talent and what we’re offering here – it is very difficult to provide something like that for free,” association spokeswoman Shelley Johansson said.

Johansson added that, according to the concert website Pollstar, average tickets for just the festival’s top three acts would total nearly $100.

So heritage association administrators believe that, for 22 musical acts over three days in Johnstown, $25 is a bargain.

“It’s severely discounted, quite honestly,” Wagner said.

In an effort to better showcase musicians and improve foot-traffic flow, organizers have shifted each of the festival’s three stages.

The main, open-air Bud Light stage in a lot across from the train station will face toward Johns Street. And it will be bigger and better than last year’s main stage.

“It’s going to be a significant improvement in the sound reinforcement and also the lighting for our biggest acts,” Johansson said.

A smaller stage that had been designed mainly for acoustic acts will move to the same parking lot near the train station. It previously had been located near a structure called the “oil house” on festival grounds.

What’s known as the Subaru stage now can accommodate acoustic acts as well as somewhat larger performances, Johansson said.

Given their proximity, the Bud Light and Subaru stages “are never going at the same time,” Johansson said.

At the other end of the venue in Festival Park, the Conemaugh Health System stage will be shifted toward Johns Street and much closer to a pub in that area.

“One of the things we wanted to do is condense the (festival’s) footprint,” Wagner said. “We like the fact that it’s an intimate event.”

There are a few other changes and additions planned at this year’s festival:

• Food vendors will be clustered in one spot along Walnut Street near the train station.

“We think that will be nice, because people will be able to find everything in one place,” Johansson said.

• Bleachers will be available for “gold”-level individual sponsors to watch concerts at the festival’s main stage.

“We’re not trying to create separation as a much as creating various ways to enjoy the festival,” Wagner said.

• Subaru’s tie-in with the festival will lead to a perk for some attendees: A lot along Washington Street will offer 54 spaces reserved for Subaru drivers only.

“It’s a first-come, first-served kind of thing,” Johansson said.