More meetings slated to fix Bluesfest chaos

By Matt Yuyitung

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney is planning to host public meetings about Bluesfest 2018 in the coming weeks to help prevent a repeat of the “egregious” behaviour she says was suffered by Centretown residents during last year’s music festival.

The planned consultations follow a Jan. 30 public-input session hosted by Bluesfest organizers and a series of meetings last fall in which McKenney heard complaints from people who live near the LeBreton Flats music venue.

Last summer, concertgoers moving along Booth and Albert streets to and from the performance area near the Canadian War Museum were seen urinating on private lawns and causing property damage.

On the concert grounds — particularly during a July 13 performance by Atlanta hip-hop trio Migos — there were clashes with security guards, unruly crowds pushing dangerously toward the stage and numerous people requiring medical attention.

Ten people were taken to hospital and more than 200 were assessed by on-site medical staff that night, according to news reports at the time.

McKenney said neighbouring residents had other complaints about noise and vandalism. During talks with the community last fall, she said there were discussions about possible solutions such as fencing people’s property and making portable washrooms more readily accessible on the festival grounds.

“(The festival organizers) recognize that these are their patrons who are causing a lot of vandalism as they’re entering and exiting,” she said. “We had kids’ toys urinated on, so it was really quite egregious and unacceptable behavior.”

About 200 people were registered to take part in a Bluesfest community open house held at Tom Brown Arena on Jan. 30. Attendees were invited to share ideas on how to improve the festival, with the issues discussed ranging from the presence of security, personal safety and the kinds of beer available for sale.

For Mark Monahan, executive director of Bluesfest, the night was an opportunity to engage with the public and receive new suggestions. He said he was pleased with the meeting.

“I think it went extremely well,” he said. “The feedback was diverse, and there were lots of solutions from people on how to make the festival better, and that’s what we were hoping for.”

At the meeting, people sat at tables in small groups and were asked to write down a list of problems they wanted to see addressed with the festival. After coming up with ideas, they shared them with the rest of the room.

Some of the issues raised included the variety of food and drink options, long lineups, crowd control, and set lengths for headliners.

Along with solutions such as increasing levels of security, a proposal to serve more craft beers received a big round of applause from the audience.

Mike Goodreid, who has attended the festival for more than a decade, said the festival “could be better organized” given the amount of space Bluesfest takes up at LeBreton Flats.

Suzanne Bernier, who has also been attending for about 10 years, said entering and exiting the festival could be improved.

“Getting in is kind of an issue,” she said. “That’s why we’re suggesting they (add) another entrance.”

Julia Norman mentioned she wanted to see the festival feature more blues performers.

“There’s a lot of bands (in the festival) that aren’t really blues at all,” she said. “So, I’d like to see it go back in that direction and staying more true to blues music.”

According to Monahan, most of the changes made to the festival come from public feedback. He highlighted the introduction of the festival’s youth pass as a result of open houses and focus groups.

For Monahan, the suggestion that stood out the most to him from the evening was the craft beer suggestion.

“It’s always interesting to get that sort of feedback since it’s one of the things we’ve actually worked on,” he said. “But maybe it’s never enough.”

Monahan also discussed the importance of developing a rapport with patrons of the festival, and creating a “better line of communication.”

“I think what we’re trying to do is break down barriers,” he said. “I think people, when they go to a large event like this, they have an image of who’s behind it. But it’s always good to put a face to who is behind Bluesfest.”

“We don’t want people to be unhappy with the festival,” he said. “We want people to come back.”

McKenney said the upcoming public meetings on Bluesfest will include discussion of proposals for improvement raised by festival organizers.