It's springtime in Oklahoma, festival season is getting underway, and two of the Metro's biggest kicked off this week.
The eighth Norman Music Festival opened Thursday night - with one of the most controversial lead-ups in recent memory.
A week ago Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkmanissued a temporary restraining order ruling festival organizers couldn't ban guns on the several blocks of Main Street where the annual concert series takes place. The quick decision came in response to a lawsuit by the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, arguing the private group that organizes the three-day outdoor concert series didn't have the right do that since the festival takes place on public land. Attorneys plan to revisit the issue after the festival ends.
"On Twitter, the organizers said they were disappointed, although they appreciated the judge taking the time to consider it carefully," said The Journal Record's managing editor Adam Brooks. "They said they still plan to have a safe environment, and they even made some jokes about how they were also going to ban roses so there would be no 'Guns N' Roses' at the event."
It's a big deal. Attendance has reportedly more than quadrupled over the past half-decade - from roughly 13,000 during the inaugural event to 70,000 last year. The Norman Arts Council estimates it has a two-point-five million dollar economic impact over the three days.
Some city officials are worried a permanent ruling could kill off some of these large, public outdoor festivals, according toJournal Record reporter Brian Brus:
The ruling creates a bigger issue, Norman Assistant City Attorney Rick Knighton said, because it effectively forces the municipality to play a management role in events organized by private organizations. “These types of events are put on primarily by the entity that gets the special events permit and pays the fees,” Knighton said. “They organize the talent and do all the work. The part of the ruling that says the city cannot give (up) control to public areas is problematic, because that means now the city’s in control. “And if we’re in control, that means we’re potentially spending tax dollars for all the functions we require: security, sanitation, damage insurance – we have a whole list of regulations for compliance,” he said. “To say City Hall is in control puts us at risk if something goes wrong. The only other option is to say we can’t have (special events) anymore.”
It could also affect the Oklahoma State Fair later this year, which does ban firearms and takes place on city land. Brooks says it's not really clear what would happen after Balkman's ruling if someone were to challenge the fair's ban.
Fair spokesman Scott Munz said that although the fair takes place on public property, the ticketed event has a fenced perimeter that creates a managed, businesslike space.
Munz said fair officials will re-examine their stance on the issue before the fair opens this fall, but a change is not expected.
Make Art, Not Waste
Another annual outdoor festival started earlier this week - the weeklong Festival of the Arts in downtown Oklahoma City.
More than 140 vendors have set up shop along Hudson Ave. downtown between Reno an Sheridan Aves., and the Arts Council of Oklahoma City is trying for a zero-waste event in 2015.
Brooks says it's a goal they started five years ago, sending only 27 percent of their waste to Oklahoma City's landfill in 2014. But it's hard, and they're not entirely sure they'll completely eliminate waste this year.
"There are still a few vendors that still use plastic foam, usually known as Styrofoam," Brooks said. "And one of the bigger problems is because there are no gates, people can bring in whatever they want, and they just throw it in the trash."
There's no zero waste requirement from any state or local agencies, but Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality Land Protection Division assistant director Fenton Road toldThe Journal Record'sSarah Terry-Cobo it's a voluntary marketing tool that's catching on with consumers and attendees.
In 2013, the Gentlemen of the Road Tour in Guthrie also had a zero-waste goal for the two-day event. Minick Materials processed the organic waste into compost. “The community of people who organize events like Festival of the Arts and Gentlemen of the Road are recognizing there is a significant opportunity to make their events environmentally better,” Rood said. Jason Huffaker, operations manager for Minick Materials, said green waste from festivals isn’t a normal part of the company’s inputs for compost. The company wants to encourage people to throw away less stuff, however. He said he sees more demand for zero-waste events. “But to do what is right costs more money, so it takes buy-in from the event planners to fund it,” Huffaker said.
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