LJWorld.com / Wakarusa Festival organizers hope to keep location

Archive for Saturday, December 8, 2007

Lawrence police chief outlines law enforcement’s problems with event

Yonder Mountain String Band performs Saturday, June 9, 2007, at the Sundown Stage during the Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival in this file photo.

By Chad Lawhorn

December 8, 2007

Wakarusa Music Festival looking to grow

Organizers of the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival seek permission to grow the event. Enlarge video

Wakarusa Festival organizers want to negotiate a long-term lease with state leaders to keep the concert at Clinton State Park.

The festival site has been in question after organizers last month unsuccessfully sought to move the event - which has attracted upward of 15,000 people in past years - to Jefferson County.

"The lake is our No. 1 target," said Brett Mosiman, who started the event in 2004.

But the lake isn't the No. 1 site in law enforcement's eyes. After Mosiman asked the City Commission to send a letter to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks endorsing the festival, Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin wrote a memo outlining his problems with the event.

"These concerns include noise complaints, aggressive panhandling by participants and additional street crime," Olin wrote.

Mosiman disagreed with Olin's assessment.

"We feel like it is a very positive event," Mosiman said. "My main comment is to think about KU football. Does it cause complaints? Sure. But does anybody really think KU football is a bad deal?"

On Friday, Mosiman said he was no longer interested in the city signing the letter. That's because he said the letter already has been sent, absent the mayor's signature. Instead, Mosiman said several local elected leaders signed the letter. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks refused to release it Friday.

Olin declined to comment further on the event after it became apparent that the City Commission was no longer being asked to endorse it.

But Olin's memo did highlight several other concerns. He said he's not convinced the festival has a good traffic plan in the event of rainy weather. Much of the festival's traffic flow goes through an unpaved field. He also said alcohol sales need to be addressed. Olin said organizers haven't provided solutions on how to deal with alcohol enforcement if the crowd grows significantly.

Berend Koops, a special assistant to Wildlife and Parks Secretary Mike Hayden, said the department was contacted last week about creating a new lease for the event.

Koops said staff members are reviewing requests the organizers have made. Some of the requests could involve significant changes, including:

¢ A multiyear lease for the event. Currently, the festival operates on a year-to-year lease, which organizers said makes it more difficult to grow and improve the festival's musical acts.

¢ Increasing the maximum number of visitors to the event. In the past, the festival has been limited to 15,000 attendees. Organizers would like a lease that allows the event to grow to 24,000 attendees by 2010.

¢ Allowing the event to expand its alcohol sales. Organizers have expressed an interest in the festival selling full-strength beer and wine. In the past, the festival has been limited to selling 3.2 percent beer. The change also would allow for beer sales to continue until 2 a.m. instead of ending at midnight.

- 6News reporter Laura McHugh contributed to this report.

Discussion

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8 December 2007
at 6:34 a.m.

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devieh (Anonymous) says…

waka waka waka ruuuuuuuuusa
8 December 2007
at 7:05 a.m.

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merrill (Anonymous) says…

It's good for the soul and it's good for some small buisness people in Lawence,Kansas.

These events make money which is why Philadelphia may bring in a 3 day event downtown.

KCMO does one or two annually in the downtown area…..I believe they are blues festivals. These are fun family events.
8 December 2007
at 7:10 a.m.

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merrill (Anonymous) says…

Sports events are fun to yet bring on rowdy folks and drinking drivers yet the events continue. If law enforcement monitored
sports events such that they do music events …hmmmmmm

Don't discriminate against music festivals.
8 December 2007
at 7:37 a.m.

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cowboy (Anonymous) says…

Toured last years festival and it was quite the zoo , have a bit of concern with another 10,000 folks in the woods , seems a dice roll on when something bad will happen be it an incident or weather related. Seems one way to increase the attendance and benefit the city more would be to include city venues and downtown , increase the acts and exposure without hammering the park harder. Of course the city overrun with hipsters may be an issue for some but i find them quite entertaining , reminds me of the old days. Those were the days my friend…..
8 December 2007
at 8:05 a.m.

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RomanNose (Anonymous) says…

Should the community be making money or simply giving it away?

Something like a million dollars.

*cough-Dicephera-cough*
8 December 2007
at 9:17 a.m.

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monkeyspunk (Anonymous) says…

If people have traffic concerns regarding the festival, why don't they do something about it? Who would be responsible for adding a few more paved roads in the area? If this is a multi year kind of thing, perhaps the organizers and those responsible for the roads in the park could work together to get a fix the Police department could be atleast a little bit happy with.

In exchange for a multiyear lease, perhaps the organizers could agree to offset the cost of the roads initial construction and then the yearly maintenance costs.

With better roads in the festival area, they just might be able to attract other large events that require that sort of infrastructure at the lake. More $$$ for everybody.

BTW, the points above comparing the treatment of the Wakky festival go'ers and sports spectators is spot on.
8 December 2007
at 9:27 a.m.

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flamingdragon (Anonymous) says…

I really wish the festival would go somewhere else. The noise at 2 am is just unreasonable..always 3 days straight, in the time of year in which I would like to have my windows open.
If it actually ceased at a reasonable hour, like 12, I wouldn't have a beef with it-but just like woodstock-something is always behind schedule. speaking of local- brett has treated local bands worse than any other music 'promoter' out there, and hes gotten away with it for 15 years. He has no local interest other than himself-or maybe a local band that has a draw that he can make a buck off of. I hope it rains that entire weekend this year. Take that sorry band lineup east towards eudora- please!
8 December 2007
at 10:23 a.m.

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booze_buds_03 (Anonymous) says…

Not sure why the ljworld could not get the letter. I found it and it is signed by local and state politicians.
http://www.lawrenceks.org/web_based_a…
8 December 2007
at 10:26 a.m.

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booze_buds_03 (Anonymous) says…

Flaming-I am just wondering how close you have to live for it to keep you up at night. I was not aware of houses that really close. I have no problem falling asleep with a little background music. Not only that but normally it is hot that time of year and I am running my AC at my house.
8 December 2007
at 10:33 a.m.

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flyin_squirrel (Anonymous) says…

Sad we are trying to run another event/business away from Lawrence. Maybe if we get rid of all dancing, alcohol and music, Lawrence will be a happy communistic community. Better yet, lets make sure nobody laughs as well.
8 December 2007
at 10:36 a.m.

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booze_buds_03 (Anonymous) says…

It would be nice if an ljworld reporter could do just a little research before writing a 7th grade article. Here is the letter from Olin outling his concerns. Not sure why ljworld could not find them or didn't want to link to them.

http://www.lawrenceks.org/web_based_a…
8 December 2007
at 10:37 a.m.

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booze_buds_03 (Anonymous) says…

And then I look stupid because the letters were already linked in the article. Now I go back to my cave.
8 December 2007
at 10:54 a.m.

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Fatty_McButterpants (Anonymous) says…

Yep, now that they've been rejected by every location they hoped to move to, they want to secure a “long-term” deal with the state…
8 December 2007
at 11:45 a.m.

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The_Original_Bob (Anonymous) says…

“Not sure why the ljworld could not get the letter. I found it and it is signed by local and state politicians.”

Not to mention that this letter is over a month old.
8 December 2007
at 12:18 p.m.

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merrill (Anonymous) says…

Increasing the maximum number of visitors to the event. In the past, the festival has been limited to 15,000 attendees. Organizers would like a lease that allows the event to grow to 24,000 attendees by 2010.

¢ Allowing the event to expand its alcohol sales. Organizers have expressed an interest in the festival selling full-strength beer and wine. In the past, the festival has been limited to selling 3.2 percent beer. The change also would allow for beer sales to continue until 2 a.m. instead of ending at midnight.

If increasing the numbers will require widening of roads and/or parking lots AND tax dollars I say forget it and keep the crowd to 15,000. Leave it alone things are working.

I say offer more water,juices and food instead of more alcohol.
8 December 2007
at 12:37 p.m.

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Mkh (Anonymous) says…

Nice pic of Ben Kaufmann rocking the kilt!
8 December 2007
at 12:44 p.m.

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BrianR (Anonymous) says…

You got it Flyin' Squirrel, damn laughers.
8 December 2007
at 1:26 p.m.

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pagan_idolator (Anonymous) says…

Anonymous user

Mkh (Anonymous) says:

Nice pic of Ben Kaufmann rocking the kilt!

When I take over and rule the world all men will have to either wear kilts, dress like a gladiator or a pirate. Cant wait.
8 December 2007
at 1:29 p.m.

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merrill (Anonymous) says…

Yes if law enforcement would leave folks alone no doubt this festival would run smoother. When I attended festivals way back when searches such as what happens at Wakarusa did not take place not even in Texas. Law enforcement seemed more concerned with keeping the traffic moving along.
8 December 2007
at 2:18 p.m.

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MCwzMC (Anonymous) says…

Olin's concerns are a bit hilarious. But I'll try to solve them for you. From what i gather, he has six concerns (1) noise, (2) aggressive pan handling, (3) additional street crime, (4) failure to reimburse for security expenses, (5) law enforcement officers being around booze, and (6) traffic.

Ok, let's address these

(1) Noise - The festival is at the lake. Besides my grandfather and my pet bat (both of whom are grumpy hand have incredible hearing), I don't know that this is too big of a deal.

(2) Aggressive panhandling - Hummm, if this is really a concern then maybe we should get rid of the transient hobo magnet downtown - ie - the homeless shelter.

(3) Street crime - Last Call is closed. Now the cops can stop worrying about AK-47s with 100-round banana clips and hone in their efforts on the insidious danger that goes along with any concert - illicit patchouli sales.

(4) Expense Reimbursements - This is easy. Require the festival, in the contract, to hire more of its own security staff. This would result in, fewer arrests, lower legal costs, and lower enforcement costs. This would allow concert goers promoters to bear the costs instead of the city (even though the county and state probably bear the vast majority of these costs).

(5) Cops and Booze - Beyond what was said in #4, I don't really know what to say here. I guess don't hire so many booze-hound cops. Damn, those guys can drink.

(6) Traffic - I don't think this is too much of a problem. If it really is, limit the size of the festival. Whatever the answer is it is NOT expending the roads. That is ridiculous. The cost of building, or adding onto, a road is insane and is not worth it for a once annual event. Somehow, Lawrence regularly handles crowds far in excess of this - ie - every KU basketball or football game. I'm sure they can manage. Also, contract for a set rate of reimbursement up front. If they don't pay, then sue.
8 December 2007
at 2:34 p.m.

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hawkperchedatriverfront (Anonymous) says…

I am suprised that Chief Olin would complain about panhandling at the festival but does nothing about the constant police calls to the drop in center aka Open Shelter. Talk about kettle calling pot black. Panhandling only at the festival, come on,let's get real. What about the dude walking around with the empty gas can trying to get money for gas for a car WHICH he does not have. Is he going to drink the gas. Offer to buy him gas and watch him walk away.

I have not seen an increase in panhanllding during the jam.
8 December 2007
at 2:50 p.m.

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The_Original_Bob (Anonymous) says…

Cars weren't really searched last year. That really helped things. I drove right in on Thursday morning without any traffic issues.

The opinion of the Lawrence Police Chief would seem very minor and might as well be disregarded. People that attend the festival are um… at the festival which is outside of the city limits. There may be a few Wookies that panhandle downtown a couple days prior and after, but as mentioned by someone previously, the police do nothing about the current begging.

Not to mention that the Wooks are not representive of the vast majority of attendees at Waka.
8 December 2007
at 3:01 p.m.

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FormerCentralKansan (Anonymous) says…

A little off-topic here but if you want to see your local police force completely plastered, head down to The Sandbar. I can't believe how drunk those guys can get. If you're lucky you will get to see their multiple ex-wives, girlfriends, and sex friends confront them in public about it. It's a good time.
8 December 2007
at 4:44 p.m.

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inluelty (Anonymous) says…

Why is there not a picture of Shana Valencia with this article?
8 December 2007
at 5:03 p.m.

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Casey_Jones (Anonymous) says…

Sounds like Ron Olin just needs to be introduced to Shana.
8 December 2007
at 6:04 p.m.

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workinghard (Anonymous) says…

Off the subject, but just heard on KC news station that a KU student at Oliver hall was found dead. Yet nothing on LJW website. Anyone know details?
9 December 2007
at 12:21 a.m.

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vinividivici (Anonymous) says…

As far as the noise issue and Wakarusa is concerned, I'd take three days of good music to 9 months of drunken college a**es any day. They cause many more problems and they seem to be spreading away from the Oread neighborhood. While I'm at it, I also have experienced more problems with the students driving around town, trashing the city, and completely disrespecting the residents of Lawrence than I ever have with the festival goers.
9 December 2007
at 3:34 p.m.

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hawkperchedatriverfront (Anonymous) says…

The mess after football games is a disgrace to Lawrence not to mention the cost to the taxpayers of paying the police for overtime, etc connected with the games.