Local businesses concerned over original Saturday plan
By JAMES MICHAELS
Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale has applied for the date of Sunday, June 20, 2010 for their annual Stonewall Street Festival and Parade with the city of Wilton Manors. In February, PGFL had filed paperwork with the city for Saturday, June 19, 2010. The organization agreed to try to change the date at a meeting on the evening of Monday, May 4 when a number of business owners on “The Drive” expressed concern about a Saturday festival and asked the organization to change the day from Saturday to Sunday.
Since the original founding of PGFL and the Stonewall events from June 2000 to June 2007, both parade and festival were held on the same day with the parade starting at 11 a.m. until approximately noon and the festival running from noon to 5 p.m.
In June 2008 and 2009 the festival was turned into a two-day event with the parade Saturday night and the festival on Sunday, which caused problems of its own. Attendance for the parade was very high but the attendance at the following day’s festival fell far below anticipated turnout. Cost to the organization was also doubled yet donations and income from alcohol and exhibition booth sales remained nearly the same.
Last year, Wilton Drive was closed to traffic at noon for parade setup with the parade itself starting 7 p.m. Following the parade, a street party was held and ended around 10 p.m. at which time Wilton Drive was cleaned of litter and the parade infrastructure was torn down being replaced with that of the festival. Following the festival and street cleanup Sunday night, Wilton Drive was reopened to traffic at 3 a.m. on Monday morning.
Organizers were also concerned about how unruly the crowds were for the evening parade. Attendees of the parade starting partying early in the afternoon on Saturday. When the street was totally closed, the early crowds freely walked the street and watched the venue setup while continuing to party. At parade time, police had difficulty clearing the street of pedestrians who, during the parade itself and despite the heavy rain in 2008, often rushed to the floats as they passed by.
The second year in 2009, for safety reasons, the city required barriers to be placed the entire length of the ½ mile parade route on both sides of the lane used for the parade. This however provided very little control on the crowds which would move the barriers or climb over them to get a closer view of the parade.
“With the parade back in the morning, those coming out to watch the parade will not have been partying all day,” said Corrie Boyd, co-chair of PGFL. “We want to provide the safest event possible.”
Recently, Bobby Kyser, chairperson of PGFL in 2008, who initiated the two-day event, admitted to the current board that changing the Stonewall events from a one-day to a two-day event was a huge mistake both financially and in functionally.
“We have received the angry emails and phone messages from some people upset with us about our decision but they just don’t understand,” said Boyd. “They’ll come around, attend the festival and parade and have a great time anyway.”
In a community meeting with business owners and PGFL held in July 2009 in order to critique that year’s event, many of the businesspeople expressed their displeasure with Wilton Drive, the main thoroughfare through the city, being closed for 39 straight hours.
PGFL also decided that since they were making a major change by returning to a one-day, this would also be a great time to move the event from Sunday the original day to Saturday which always caused the festival to be held on Father’s Day.
The date change, though by even one day, will have to be approved by the Wilton Manors City Commission. The next meeting of the City Commission will be held on May 11.
PGFL has been promoting the Saturday, June 19th date and has been planning and proceeding for that date. PGFL has contracts and agreements for exhibition booths and parade participation for the 19th. Also, the date change will need to be taken up with the companies that provide the services of liability insurance policies, cleaning, trash disposal and portable toilets.
PGFL admits that for the next few weeks, they will have to be planning two separate events: one for the 19th and one for the 20th. They have already signed contracts for almost two dozen exhibition booths and additional parade participants which they feel should be easily converted to the 20th though some refunds may be required. Also, until the festival date is finalized, all inquiries concerning the festival will be responded to with both possible dates.
After the city council approves the date change, which PGFL does not see as a problem, then the new date has to be approved by the Florida Department of Transportation. Wilton Drive is officially State Road 811 and is under state control. The FDOT requires a minimum 30 days to process the application for the closure of the road. Part of the closure procedure requires an official copy of the minutes from the May 11th city council meeting showing official authorization from the city.
Until approval of all governing bodies concerned, PGFL will continue to work with the June 19th date. Leisure Services, the city’s parks and recreation department has agreed to keep the paperwork for the 19th active until the 20th is approved.
“We are cutting it close,” Boyd said. “But we’re doing whatever it takes to make the festival a success.”
