Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130026
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Head, the president of the festival's board, says this year's festival had other successes - crowds that were bigger than ever, children's activities more numerous and popular than in previous years, an audience estimated at 18,000 for the Blood, Sweat & Tears concert in Victory Stadium.
Still, it hasn't been an easy year for the festival's organizers.
In August 1989, Richard Wells, publisher of the Roanoker magazine, wrote an essay in the magazine expressing unease over the festival's nighttime activities, saying, "The level of language, of dress, of general deportment and conduct simply didn't square with the idea of a family event for us."
Early this year, one board member resigned in protest over the handling of the decision to convert the executive director's job into a full-time position and offer it to the incumbent, Wendi Turner.
The salary and benefits would total about $42,000, considerably more than the roughly $17,000 Turner had been earning as part-time director. At least two board members thought the compensation excessive.
The turmoil over Turner's position seems to have passed. Turner has decided to accept the job, effective Aug. 1.
But concern over behavior at the festival's nighttime activities continues.
This year, news reports detailed more than 40 arrests over the festival's two weekends on charges that included drunkenness, assault, theft and property damage.
Turner told reporters the incidents were no worse than in previous years.
But Head admitted the festival's image could be hurt by such reports.
"We talked the whole weekend about what we're going to to about this next year," she said. "We're really putting our heads together, trying to think of ways to increase security, decrease our [financial] dependence on the beer garden. We're thinking of new entertainment ideas."
One suggestion is to move the larger concerts from cramped Elmwood Park to Victory Stadium, which is easier to police. The night of the 1964 as the Beatles concert, the park was filled beyond its capacity, said Head, who estimated the crowd at 12,000 people - "too many."
Turner said the festival board will discuss these matters in detail at its summer retreat. She said she did not think the festival's image was hurt by publicity about the arrests.
"I think that those folks that came left with a good feeling," she said. "We've gotten many, many compliments on festival this year. A few [complaints] from the general public. Less than in years past."
Wells said that in his opinion, the nighttime atmosphere did not improve in 1990.
"What I observed and what I heard from others and read in the paper would suggest that the nighttime activities' crowd is no place to have a family," he said.
"I don't believe that the festival has ever tried to do family entertaining in the evening," Turner responded. "I don't know where that idea has stemmed from. We do it during the day, but all the children's activities close at 5."
Festival in the Park is really two festivals. There are the daytime activities with sporting events, children's theater and the arts and crafts shows, and there are the nighttime concerts in Elmwood Park and at Victory Stadium.
The daytime festival is crowded, cheerful and calm. At night, the atmosphere becomes more raucous and less controlled.
"I'm for one and real worried about the other," Wells said, adding that he and his family greatly enjoyed two Saturday mornings at the festival.
Told that Turner had characterized 1990 as a calm year, he said, "If this was a calm year, I think we're in real trouble."
But Laban Johnson, Roanoke's director of special events and a festival committee member, said the festival was victimized by news media sensationalism in at least an instance or two.
Head and Turner agreed, saying one reported fight occurred away from the festival grounds and involved youths who had not been at the event.
Head claims that festival is blamed for all criminal acts occurring within a five-mile radius on the nights of its concerts. Johnson said more people have been arrested for drunkenness in the valley's civic center parking lots prior to concerts than during the festival's two weekends.
"I think the festival has worked very hard to keep their festival one that appeals to a whole broad range of people in this valley," he said. "I have said several times, `This is not Disney World. This is reality, folks. These are the people that live here.' We get in trouble when we get judgmental of our neighbors."
Head said, "Any time you get that many people together where there's music and beer, you're going to have some problems. It's not the festival. It's the people."
She said, "We'll increase security again next year. We don't want people to think it's not safe. We do want to be responsible."
One indication of the festival's enduring appeal is its apparent profit in spite of two days of rain or the threat of it, Head said.
Except for the bicycle race, the Memorial Day activities were wiped out by a day of hard rain. The festival's final day suffered from cloudy skies and the possibility of turbulent weather.
Festival officials were disappointed that the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats and Magicians of Taipei were unable to leave Taiwan in time to perform at Victory Stadium on the final evening.
Head said they had learned a few weeks earlier that only half the troupe might appear. They quickly signed the Bits 'N Pieces puppet troupe to share the bill. When it became evident at the last minute that the contingent from Taiwan would not show up, they signed the New York Lyric Circus as a replacement.
The show went on, but fewer than 2,000 people attended.
"We lost a lot of money," Head said, putting the figure at $8,000 or more. "It was so disappointing . . . We really wanted to do a family event and do it well."
Turner was frustrated by the small turnout. "Roanoke has been saying, why doesn't Festival do something like this that's strictly for families and without alcoholic beverages? When I looked around, I saw more children at the Blood, Sweat and Tears concert . . . I was a little discouraged in that."
by CNB