FLOYDFEST REACHES AGREEMENT WITH BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY ON 2008 EVENT
‘PEACE TALKS’ take place at Congressman Boucher’s Abington offices
Just because you enjoy live music, don’t mind camping, and happen to be headed to FloydFest, doesn’t make you a potential criminal.
This is a rough paraphrasing of the upshot of several months of negotiations between organizers of the four-day summer music event, which takes place off the Blue Ridge Parkway near the town of Floyd, Virginia, and Parkway officials from Asheville, NC. The meetings took place in Abington, Virginia, at the offices of Congressman Rick Boucher, who himself, along with staff, fielded phone calls and letters of complaint from constituents during and following the 2007 event.
The Blue Ridge Parkway, which is under the umbrella of the National Park Service, was an act at last year’s FloydFest that garnered nearly as much attention as some of the headlining musicians when it deployed a ‘Criminal Interdiction Team’ to police traffic during the event, in the process upsetting many local residents as well as visitors to the area with what some called an "overzealous presence" and others felt was downright harassment. The CIT stopped over 150 motorists over the 4-day period from July 26-29. A number of the stops resulted in the searching of motorists’ vehicles, a small number of which led to arrests and a smaller number to convictions. The overall intensity of the maneuvers, which included search dogs and black-gloved officers, had many people questioning the necessity of NPS tactics, particularly at a family-friendly music event.
Organizers with the festival management company, Across-the-Way Productions, had been working with state, local and Federal law enforcement since 2002, when the event debuted off the Parkway to a crowd of around 5,000 visitors. Although attendance over the years has more than doubled, the event has created and maintained a reputation for a climate of safety, cleanliness, and overall "good vibes", so it was a surprise to all involved when Parkway presence, unannounced and unexpectedly, increased exponentially in 2006, and returned again in 2007.
"We thought for sure when they came initially that they would realize there wasn’t much happening to warrant a heavy-handed presence," says festival co-founder Erika Johnson.
"Of course safety is our first priority, but we’d been working with Sheriffs from two counties, State Police and local Parkway Rangers for years, and we were all on the same page together. Things were working fine. We scheduled a meeting with them (the Parkway) in the Spring of 2007, heading into the festival, to say ‘hey… this is who we are, and this is what FloydFest is about, and let’s all work together to create a safe and positive environment for the folks who are coming, via the Parkway, to the festival. When 2007 turned into a repeat of 2006, we were surprised and taken back."
When by Saturday of the 2007 event, a 25-page –and-growing petition was circulating within the 80-acre grounds about the situation, organizers put in an emergency call to their legal advisors.
"Our lawyer called the Parkway", says Johnson. He was on a 3-way call with a Parkway Superintendent and Congressman Boucher. The Superintendent said, "So, you feel like our officers are profiling people coming to the festival?" and our Lawyer (Jeff Mitchell of LeClair Ryan Flippen and Densmore) said, "No, I don’t think you’re profiling. I think you’re harassing everyone equaly."
The issue played out in local and regional media for months following the event, with a Federal court case in October fanning the flames. Federal Judge James Ubanski presided over a case in Roanoke in which a motorist was stopped for a minor traffic infraction, which turned into a search and seizure situation. Defendant Sean Moore from Greensboro, North Carolina, was charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana. Judge Ubanski ruled in favor of the defendant, after a late admission of videotapes from the stop contradicted the Parkway officer’s report. Moreover, Ubanski judged the search unconstitutional in that Moore had not directly consented to it, and questioned the officer’s charge that Moore was "way too nice" and thus aroused his suspicion.
Pressed by organizers and citizens for a response to the situation, Congressman Boucher mediated during a November 2007 meeting between AtWP and Parkway representatives, during which he requested that the Parkway provide a written outline of their 2008 traffic safety plan for the late July festival weekend. Although the written report is pending, the Parkway has stated their intentions for the record, and has made significant changes for the 2008 year. Parkway Superintendent Phil Frances stated that they would not employ the Criminal Interdiction Team during FloydFest. Also, in response to allegations that events of similar size and nature, such as concerts at the Blue Ridge Music Center further South on the Parkway, have not been monitored by the CIT, Frances stated that traffic maneuvers during FloydFest would be the same as with any other event of similar size that takes place off the Parkway. Moreover, that while there would be an increase in the number of park rangers in accord with the increase in traffic, that these rangers would be doing nothing more, or less, than they would on any given day, FloydFest or no FloydFest.
If 2007 was any indication, festival goers will be watching, and voicing their opinion.