ashley
08-12-2008, 07:30 AM
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, August 12, 2008
LAWRENCE — The popular Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival may end its run in Lawrence after five years, event promoter Brett Mosiman said.
Mosiman, who says his event has lost money the last two years, accuses the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks of bigotry because of how it treats the event and its largely "hippie" crowd.
Mosiman said he might move his event out of state in 2009 unless Wakarusa is given terms that are equal to the Country Stampede, a music and camping festival at Tuttle Creek State Park near Manhattan.
"You can say cowboys are cool and hippies drool, but not if you're behind the state seal of Kansas," Mosiman said. "It is profiling, it is discrimination, it is like saying the black kids can't use the pool."
Amy Thornton, staff attorney for the parks department, said Mosiman has made claims of discrimination and bigotry in past contract talks. She said the department has provided reasonable explanations each time for the contract differences.
"We've heard that over and over again," Thornton said of the bigotry claim. "But, frankly, it is the management of the festival we're concerned about, not the people there."
She said in past years the Wakarusa Festival was late in paying vendors, had violated the contract's quiet zone provisions and had missed several deadlines for presenting security and traffic control plans.
In recent years, Wakarusa has paid more in rent and county law enforcement services than the Stampede, although the Stampede is a larger event. Wakarusa's attendance cap is 13,500. The Stampede is 30,000, the same number that attended the first Wakarusa Festival in 2004.
Thornton said the Wakarusa Festival has been watched closely because of some its past problems. In 2005, a festival attendee died from a drug overdose. In 2006, more than 80 people were arrested at the festival, including 12 for LSD offenses and 25 for marijuana violations.
The Stampede has had its low point as well — a stabbing death in 1997, its first year.
Still, Thornton said she didn't have a good answer as to why Moisman's company is obligated to reimburse the department nearly $30,000 in expenses for law enforcement while the Stampede isn't responsible for any similar expense.
"We feel like we are being targeted," Mosiman said. "They are making illogical and penal decisions to snuff out our event, to chase our event out of town."
Thornton said the department still was willing to work with Mosiman, but also indicated that it wasn't afraid to lose the event.
"I'm not sure giving ultimatums to us is going to work that well," Thornton said.
http://cjonline.com/stories/081208/kan_317613546.shtml
Published Tuesday, August 12, 2008
LAWRENCE — The popular Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival may end its run in Lawrence after five years, event promoter Brett Mosiman said.
Mosiman, who says his event has lost money the last two years, accuses the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks of bigotry because of how it treats the event and its largely "hippie" crowd.
Mosiman said he might move his event out of state in 2009 unless Wakarusa is given terms that are equal to the Country Stampede, a music and camping festival at Tuttle Creek State Park near Manhattan.
"You can say cowboys are cool and hippies drool, but not if you're behind the state seal of Kansas," Mosiman said. "It is profiling, it is discrimination, it is like saying the black kids can't use the pool."
Amy Thornton, staff attorney for the parks department, said Mosiman has made claims of discrimination and bigotry in past contract talks. She said the department has provided reasonable explanations each time for the contract differences.
"We've heard that over and over again," Thornton said of the bigotry claim. "But, frankly, it is the management of the festival we're concerned about, not the people there."
She said in past years the Wakarusa Festival was late in paying vendors, had violated the contract's quiet zone provisions and had missed several deadlines for presenting security and traffic control plans.
In recent years, Wakarusa has paid more in rent and county law enforcement services than the Stampede, although the Stampede is a larger event. Wakarusa's attendance cap is 13,500. The Stampede is 30,000, the same number that attended the first Wakarusa Festival in 2004.
Thornton said the Wakarusa Festival has been watched closely because of some its past problems. In 2005, a festival attendee died from a drug overdose. In 2006, more than 80 people were arrested at the festival, including 12 for LSD offenses and 25 for marijuana violations.
The Stampede has had its low point as well — a stabbing death in 1997, its first year.
Still, Thornton said she didn't have a good answer as to why Moisman's company is obligated to reimburse the department nearly $30,000 in expenses for law enforcement while the Stampede isn't responsible for any similar expense.
"We feel like we are being targeted," Mosiman said. "They are making illogical and penal decisions to snuff out our event, to chase our event out of town."
Thornton said the department still was willing to work with Mosiman, but also indicated that it wasn't afraid to lose the event.
"I'm not sure giving ultimatums to us is going to work that well," Thornton said.
http://cjonline.com/stories/081208/kan_317613546.shtml