On June 5, my husband and I walked downtown to attend a reading by Rochester author Steven Huff at Greenwood Books. The difficulties encountered while trying to go to that event site - which is within East End Festival space - has left me with many questions.
A primary one: How can private money-making event organizers - even with a permit - deny citizens access to businesses within public space? And how much oversight does the City of Rochester have over such events?
When we tried to enter East Avenue where the festival was going on, we first discovered it was necessary to enter at the gate and pay $3, since Greenwood Books is within the fenced-off area of the festival. When we told the person taking entrance money that we were not attending the festival but were attending a reading, he still demanded the fee.
We asked him to call his superior, who also said we could not enter without paying. Thereupon we told two nearby police officers about our problem and said we were willing to be arrested in order to assert our civil rights to enter a public space.
One of the officers contacted a higher up, who said we should be able to enter without paying. He escorted us to the gate, where the keeper grudgingly allowed us to enter.
Other friends who had Greenwood Books as a destination were not even able to get to the gate. Arriving downtown by car, they had to turn around and go home because of the congestion. The music noise level for those living downtown must be unbearable.
My final question: We know the City of Rochester wants to make downtown an attractive destination, but is the East End Festival, as it is now organized, really good for downtown?
(The positive thing about our evening: hearing a great reading by Steve Huff from his new book, "A Pig in Paris." I recommend it!)
MARILYN ANDERSON, ROCHESTER
Comments for "DOWNTOWN: East End Fest blocked entrance to another event" (2)
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MrRochester said on Jun. 17, 2009 at 12:21pm
Why doesnt Greenwood books get a clue and schedule the reading on another night? East End fest is touted weeks in advance.
Josh Reed said on Sep. 24, 2009 at 8:20pm
Mariliyn -
I'm not sure if this will notify when it's sent, but I never received notice of this complaint from either you or anyone else; as the coordinator (let's say 2nd in command) for the festival, I went around personally to each store in the area that is open later, not just on East Ave but within a few blocks, and gave the dates to people, and asked them if they had any issues with the festival, to please let us know.
We have made accommodations in the past, and told security that festival and later ones as well to respect people who look legitimately say and look like they have reservations for Alexandria's, Golden Port, etc.. They, like the wonderful lady at Greenwood are neutral as far as the festival goes and we try to accommodate them as well as possible.
I'm sorry that this happened, as I legitimately did not know the event was happening. I promise you that this year for me was about personally finding all of the problems in the way the festival is run and helping to ease them, as we plan to improve and expand the appeal of the festival.
As for the noise level, yes, it is horrible, as someone who lived for a summer in 111 East Ave - but one thing I have discovered from working with these businesses is that many of them would not be able to survive as business owners if not for the money that a) Jazz Fest and b) East End Fest bring in. I hope that even those who do not support the festival for the 'bad' reasons can keep in mind the good ones.
If you want to talk further with me about this, my email is reedjoshuam@gmail.com
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