Planning the music

As WHATFest announces departure, Riverside town council looks to codify circumstances for incoming festivals

The first Riverside Town Council meeting of 2018 was very similar to the last one of 2017. The Riverside Town Council did not have a quorum for their regularly scheduled Dec. 14 meeting and had rescheduled for Dec. 19.

WHATFest and proposed ordinances for future music festivals composed the bulk of both the December and January town council meetings.

Riverside Town Council also addressed correspondence from Dana Greenwood. The letter concerned a press release in December from WHATFest organizers, which announced its relocation to Centennial, and the future of music festivals in Riverside. In her letter, Greenwood referenced an interview with Mayor Leroy Stephenson in the Aug. 2 edition of the Saratoga Sun. Stephenson insisted most of what he said was correctly reported with one exception.

That exception, added Stephenson, concerned the possible outcome of a poll of Riverside residents. The poll, conducted late in 2017, came back with a majority of residents in support of WHATFest. Stephenson said he had felt the poll would come back positive and he believed he had been misquoted. The article reported that Stephenson believed most residents would be against the return of WHATFest.

Jill Greenwood said she believed the article contributed to the festival’s decision to relocate to Centennial. Margaret Weber, a former Riverside Town Council member and former owner of The Bear Trap, explained there had been a handful of reasons for the festival’s decision to leave Riverside. Stagnant growth and the festival growing too large for the town being chief among them.

“It’s not the actions of the town council that caused it [the relocation of WHATFest]?” Councilmember Katie Cheesbrough asked Weber.

Weber said while people would likely blame the Riverside Town Council or Jolene Pavelka, former owner of The Bear Trap, the festival had outgrown the town and needed to relocate.

Dana Greenwood brought the conversation back to the results of the poll and the proposed ordinances, asking why the results of the poll didn’t lead the council to abandon the idea of ordinances.

“We were blessed to have WHATFest,” explained Stephenson, “as an organization those kids did the best they could to put on a good show, keep everybody’s stuff together, clean it all up when it was done. When they left here you couldn’t hardly tell they had been here, but the next person that wants to come in and put on a music festival may not be that good at it.”

Cheesbrough added that much of what is in the proposed ordinances, including adequate parking, shuttles, portable toilets and trash clean-up, was already handled by the organizers of WHATFest. The council is looking to codify those actions for future music festivals.

“These ordinances were things that WHATFest was already doing,” said Cheesbrough, “If other musical festivals or anything were to come to town how do we make it safe, sanitary and still a good time?”

Weber told the council that, in regards to the ordinances, they would have to clearly define what constitutes a music festival.

“When you say anything over four hours is a festival and you have to have $500 and you have to have this and you have to have that, that’s extreme,” Weber said, “because that’s Woodchoppers [Jamboree].”

Stephenson told Weber that her comments were the kind of input he was looking for in regards to the ordinances. The overall theme of the discussion was the inconsistencies that occurred as ownership of The Bear Trap transferred from Weber to Pavelka. The council pointed out that while Weber owned The Bear Trap and was on the council she had been able to answer many of their questions.

“We [the Riverside Town Council] will always have a certain amount of responsibility,” said Stephenson, “and as such we owe it to the people of the town to show them we are paying attention.”

Throughout the conversation, council member Ed Golden addressed the perception he believed the town had given attendants of the festival in the past. His main concern being the amount of traffic cones and signs that have been put out along first street.

“I think it can be done softer,” he told the other members of the council.

Golden also proposed the idea of a volunteer committee that would meet with festival organizers who are interested in locating to Riverside and aid communication with the council.

At the behest of Stephenson, town clerk Jan Cook handed out the text of the proposed ordinances to those gathered. Stephenson encouraged people to look over the ordinances and come to subsequent town council meetings.

When asked by Dana Greenwood if the town would have ordinances in one form or another, Stephenson replied in the affirmative.

“We have to. We can’t rely that every music festival that comes in here is going to be WHATFest. We can’t rely on the fact that every bar owner that is going to have a festival is going to be Margaret,” said Stephenson, “This is just a place to start the conversation.”

The current text of the proposed ordinances includes:

• Any outdoor music exceeding four hours on a single day will be classified as festival.

• A requirement that any festival obtain a permit from the town with a fee of at least $500 for each day of the festival. This fee would be used to hire security, close streets, print and install signs and other associated duties.

• Any venue would be required to have adequate sanitary facilities.

• The venue would be required to provide adequate parking space and a shuttle to and from the parking space.

• The person in possession of the permit, either organizer or venue, would be responsible for providing trash receptacles, trash clean-up and compliance with the ordinances.

• Parking would be prohibited on town streets between the hours of 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. during the nights of the festivals.

In other business, the council held its first reading of Ordinance 223 which had been written to reflect changes made in the State of Wyoming’s liquor license laws. Two more readings of the ordinance will be held before it is formally adopted. The council also discussed planning for Riverside Party Day, which will be held on Aug. 18. The decision to book Colorado based bluegrass band High Plains Tradition was unanimous.

The next Riverside Town Council is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2018 at the Riverside Town Hall.

 

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