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Festival escapes the Fun Police
Who’s to blame when situations
deteriorate?
Disgusting things you can’t anticipate!
— The
B-52s, “Party gone out of bounds.”
Death, drunks, drownings,
debauchery and destruction! Sex, drugs and (shudder) rock-and-roll!
All consumed in a burning Hellfire of their own creation!
None of
these dire predictions materialized the past week at The Island
Festival, except for the rock.
Drugs? Apparently not a
problem.
Sex? That’s really none of your business.
What did
happen was a fun time had by the 200 or so folks who made it to
Sherwood’s Island, despite temperatures that would make Gunga Din
wilt. They proved that you can play within the rules and still have
a good time.
Randy Sherwood, who according to his father, John,
wants to get into event promoting, showed off his organizational
skills in putting together the four-day Island Music and Creative
Arts Festival. He targeted the event for around 200 people, and
that’s how many showed up.
John Sherwood showed off his
diplomatic skills, placating a group of very concerned Island
neighbors and county government officials, and in the process
earning the praise of the commissioners for his handling of the
situation.
It didn’t hurt that he kept the promises that he
made:
No fires. No drunken debauched drivers. No giant swarm of
party-goers.
Instead, the Sherwoods pulled off a mellow event
that even the late Mr. Rogers would probably have enjoyed, even
though the heat would have forced him to remove his trademark
sweater.
Yes, there was loud music. At least the nearby residents
got a heads-up to the impending aural onslaught. But you have to
figure that if they can handle the Burlington-Northern-Santa Fe
Railroad running through their living rooms at all hours, they can
deal with Smithereens covers for a couple of nights.
Maybe the
Sherwoods should have been in charge of the failed music festival at
Oscar’s Park in Billings, where only 12 people showed up.
Or
better yet, put them in charge of the Freedom Celebration, which
only drew a fraction of last year’s 20,000 visitors because there
was no fireworks show.
I only have one problem with the Island
Festival: I wish I would have
gone. |
