THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409010231
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 236 lines
THE FINISHING touches on the Fifth Street stage are in place. The bands are booked, the fireworks primed, and ticket-taking volunteers ready.
After months of planning, the curtain rises tonight on the first American Music Festival, Virginia Beach's latest answer to the haunting question: What about Labor Day weekend?
Five years after rioters tore up the resort strip and dented the city's reputation as a middle class playground, an alliance of hoteliers, merchants and city officials has struggled to find the right mix of entertainment, crowd control and hospitality to smooth the image and keep tourists and residents happy.
It has not been an easy road, and this weekend may prove a watershed.
Once criticized for failing to plan activities for Labor Day visitors, the city has done nothing but plan, and this year's efforts center largely on entertainment and traffic control.
``The amount of planning on this year's festival has been awesome,'' said Chris Casey, the Beach Events and Ocean Occasions director for Virginia Beach Events Unlimited, the company contracted by the city to develop oceanfront entertainment.
In January, a 15-person, volunteer steering committee comprised of hoteliers, retailers and restaurateurs began meeting in the visitors convention bureau at the foot of the expressway.
``At some points that group was meeting three or four times a week for four hours a sitting in the dead of winter,'' Casey said. ``We had subcommittees to tackle all kinds of issues. As the idea took shape we brought on other partners including Cellar Door Productions, which booked acts; Barker Campbell & Farley, the city's advertising agency; Sponsorship Unlimited, which found sponsors; and, of course, the Hotel-Motel Association.''
Hundreds of details were considered, including the kind of musical acts to book, Casey said. Research showed that visiting families like two things: music and fireworks.
``A big part of our programming is around fireworks and music,'' Casey said. ``We wanted to go to families. There is a certain nostalgic component to these bands. We wanted them well rounded. We wanted blues, jazz, country, oldies, so that one, if not all, would be interested in seeing the bands if they heard about the festival.''
Deciding which acts to book is as much a question of availability as marketing, said Bill Reid, president of Cellar Door Productions of Virginia Beach.
``There is an almost infinite number of groups to consider,'' he said. ``But the decision (of whom to book) was a little harder because there were so many. And most festivals like this are booked a year in advance. We had some time to work, but we had to do it quickly, and we had to get approval from the groups and then get the word out.''
The city hosted a fireworks competition Memorial Day weekend and tonight at the 15th Street pier the competition winner, Atlas Fireworks, will show why it was named best in the country.
Ever since the 1989 riots, the question of entertainment has had an air of uncertainty. After the Labor Day Review Commission criticized city leaders in January 1990 for not planning activities for visitors it knew would arrive, the city has tried different ideas.
In 1990, when the end-of-summer party was called ``Laborfest,'' the entertainment was city-sponsored step shows, concerts and street-side basketball games. They all were nearly ignored. In subsequent years, offshore power boat races, touted as a sure-fire winner, did little to ignite lasting enthusiasm.
Now comes the festival.
Billed as the largest music festival in Virginia, the American Music Festival will assemble the considerable talents of 30 national and regional acts around the toe-tapping, baby-boomer marketability of The Beach Boys, The Four Tops, The Temptations and Billy Ray Cyrus.
The goal is to turn the entire Oceanfront, particularly the south beach, into a rollicking and wholesome party and then repeat it next year, and the year after. Over time, city planners hope, when an amphitheater is built, the festival could be moved there to attract bigger and more diverse acts.
An estimated 10,000 tickets had been sold as of Wednesday morning, Casey said, adding the goal is 20,000 tickets.
``We're already seeing an increase over the last couple of days. We're in the process of expanding our gate ticket plan. We were going to have four or five people selling tickets at the gate. But we're going to increase that number in the hope there will be a big walk-up crowd,'' Casey said.
The American Music Festival will assemble headline acts that are tailor-made for the city's core tourist market. If record sales are any indication, the festival bodes well.
The four acts have 65 No. 1 hits among them and record sales topping 235 million. They have sung their way onto 207 albums, which spawned 183 top-20 hits. Country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus has sold more than 12 million records alone.
``I'm real excited about it,'' said Ocean Occasions' Casey. ``The weather looks like it'll be fine. Volunteer turnout has been strong. We need about 125 volunteers and the Navy has promised us 75 volunteers.''
What visitors see when they arrive is crucial for the city and, depending on the time of day, that image can vary widely.
By day Virginia Beach is a hugely successful resort that offers an inviting beach, dozens of restaurants, and a unique local flavor that keeps an estimated 20 million visitors coming every year.
But at night, when most hotel guests are relaxing in their rooms, the strip can become an edgier place, where young men posture, car stereos thunder, and the sometimes fragile state of race relations emerges.
This year's July Fourth weekend was a perfect example.
Claude D. Gange, owner of Primo Pizza at 21st Street, said police were called to the corner of 21st and Atlantic to break up a large and increasingly unruly crowd.
Some people soon became alarmed when several youth threw firecrackers underneath police horses. The popping sounded like gunfire, Gange said, and police were visibly nervous.
Then some began to chant ``Break the glass! Break the glass!'' in a move clearly intended to taunt the police who eventually broke up the crowd without further incident.
``That was a scene that was hauntingly familiar to 1989,'' Gange said. ``I don't want my business or anyone's business to get hurt, but I think the word needs to get out that it happened.
``There are definitely problems down here that persist.''
Police department spokesman Mike Carey was careful in describing the July Fourth weekend as one typical for a national holiday.
``We did have a lot of people and we did have fight calls, but we have that every weekend of the summer,'' Carey said.
Deepak G. Nachnani, who owns three T-shirt shops called Coastal Edge, Tequila Sunrise and Island of Dee, said the majority of evenings along the resort strip are as peaceful as they've ever been, except for July Fourth.
``Things have been going good this year but the Fourth of July was not so good,'' he said. ``I have to commend the Virginia Beach Police Department. They did a wonderful job. I think they are much better equipped to deal with a major crowd than ever before.''
Nachnani said store employees confronted 10 shoplifting suspects over July Fourth, more than any other weekend. Some restaurants reported instances of customers leaving without paying their bills or acting rude to waiters and waitresses.
Such incidents travel like lightning in the tightknit Oceanfront community where many of the shop owners have lived and raised their families. For many of them, seeing the city work so hard to smooth out the rough edges only ignores deeper problems such as uncertain race relations.
``If you throw gasoline on a fire, it gets bigger. We got saved two years in a row by bad weather,'' said Rick Kowalewich, owner of R K's Windsurf Shop & Boutique at 25th Street and Pacific Avenue. ``This city is terrible about putting the cart before the horse and it's walking a racial tightrope.
``If we have any problems this Labor Day weekend, then Virginia Beach is a history lesson,'' he said. ``The economy has been stifled. It has gotten worse in the last four years with the parking and no-cruising ordinances. Five years ago I fought this hard and no one listened to me.''
To gain an upper hand on order, the city has moved most aggressively on traffic problems, considered a crucial crowd control tool. This year's Labor Day weekend will see the tightest parking restrictions on record.
Like most weekends, the police will retain the power to close Atlantic Avenue if traffic becomes heavy. Traffic will be limited to resort business traffic during the day and night.
Visiting a favorite restaurant is considered legitimate ``resort business traffic,'' unless the streets become clogged. Drivers will be asked to state their destination to police officers, the city has said.
Access to Atlantic Avenue from Pacific Avenue will be Ninth, 17th, 19th, 21st and 31st streets. Other streets will be closed.
Unlike previous years when parking was an informal affair, the city has banned on-street parking between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. in an 80-block area bounded by Laskin Road on the north, Norfolk Avenue on the south and Parks Avenue on the west.
City planners want to channel visitors into any of the three municipal lots or special parking set up at the Pavilion, but the ban also stripped 2,510 late-night parking spaces from the Oceanfront.
What effect the loss of parking will have on attendance this weekend is uncertain. City officials don't know how many Hampton Roads residents visit the resort on any given weekend, but even with the loss there remains plenty of parking once the remote lot at the Pavilion is considered.
The owners of independent parking lots are worried that changes in the city's traffic patterns could disrupt business.
Sharon Carroll, who runs Holland Estate Parking Lot on 12th Street between Atlantic and Pacific avenues, is concerned that restricting access to Atlantic Avenue will hurt business.
Her 60-space, private parking lot is sandwiched between businesses on Atlantic and Pacific and thus not easily seen from the street.
``We depend on people driving down the road to see us,'' she said. ``If people don't know we're there, how can they say where they're going?''
Customers will have to reach her lot by going down Ninth Street.
``My concern is that people will not know we're here,'' she said.
Looking at the feverish planning from a distance but with a certain amount of wisdom are members of the Labor Day Review Commission, most of whom appear happy to see the city work so hard to improve quality of life at the Oceanfront.
``I think the city is working in the right direction,'' said Harrison B. Wilson, president of Norfolk State University and a co-chair of the Labor Day Review Commission. ``They have tried very hard to improve the entire environment out at the Oceanfront.''
Andrew Fine, an attorney and real estate developer who also served on the Labor Day Review Commission, agreed.
``They've done most of the logical things,'' Fine said. ``The traffic, and the planning and just terrifically better policing on how to deal with large crowds.
``There will always be people at 2 a.m. who will create problems, but now they're very intelligently dealt with. I think we as a city are a lot less inclined to commit any acts of hubris by simply ignoring issues.
``The Oceanfront looks better today, it feels better and the common denominator has been ratcheted up a bit. People seem better dressed, more orderly, but that's at 9 p.m.''
In retrospect, said Tom Franz, who helped write the report, so much is different this year that it hardly seems like the same place.
``Looking back, it seemed everyone was expecting the worst,'' he said. ``There was a tremendous amount of buildup and a lot of people came here and took advantage of a bad situation. It was a chaotic atmosphere that got out of hand.
``But we've put in controls we didn't have then. I'd be surprised if we have a recurrence. This American Music Festival looks like a real positive step.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
This weekend's American Music Festival at the Oceanfront will
feature a host of musical talent from the past and present.[color
cover photo]
Chris Casey, director of special events for Virginia Beach Events
Unlimited, stands at 5th Street and the Oceanfront where the main
stage will be.
Claude D. Gange, owner of Primo Pizza at 21st Street, said police
were visibly nervous over some incidents during the Fourth of July
weekend. ``There are definitely problems down here that persist,''
he said.
``Things have been going good this year, but the Fourth of July was
not so good,'' said Deepak G. Nachnani, owner of three Oceanfront
T-shirt shops. `I have to commend the Virginia Beach Police
Department. They did a wonderful job. I think they are much better
equipped to deal with a major crowd than ever before.''
[Sidebar to the story]
American Music Festival Essentials/Schedule
Friday's Schedule
Saturday's Schedule
Sunday's Schedule
Monday's Entertainment
Other Acts
by CNB