Decision on allowing Arts, Beats & Eats event months away
Police chief: Planning a safe, responsible festival is underway
Whether the annual Arts, Beats & Eats festival takes place in Royal Oak this year isn’t expected to be known until mid summer.
Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O’Donohue said the event’s producer, Jon Witz, has been in discussions with police, state health officials and other event planners to “make sure he is up to date on the latest and best practices for events of (this) type …
“Arts, Beats & Eats is planning to move forward while working to ensure the festival is held in a safe and responsible way,” he said.
Witz will make changes to plans for the festival as more information becomes available, O’Donohue added.
The topic came up this week during a discussion with city commissioners on events that have been canceled so far due to social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
O’Donohue estimated a decision on Arts, Beats & Eats would be made in mid July.
“If we’re not in a more normalized place by (then) it’s not going to happen,” he said.
City Commissioner Kyle DuBuc said he wanted to make it clear that Arts, Beats & Eats – which last year drew about 350,000 to Royal Oak over Labor Day weekend – is not a done deal for this year.
“What we’re saying is not that Arts, Beats & Eats is on,” he said. “If it’s not in the public interest, we’re not going to do it.”
Witz told the Tribune recently he would be guided by state and county health officials, and if the festival is allowed it would be done with fewer musical acts in a reconfigured format.
“We’d much rather have food vendors, artists and local musicians there versus getting super big bands this year,” he said.
The trend currently is against allowing any large
gatherings under Gov. Whitmer’s emergency orders.
Most large summer events, from the Ann Arbor Art Fair to multiple local Fourth of July activities have already been canceled. Moreover, nearby communities from Ferndale to Clawson, Berkley, Madison Heights and others have already decided to close all recreation and parks activities for the summer. Royal Oak hasn’t decided yet whether to close its parks offerings for the full season.
John Fedele, superintendent for the city’s recreation and parks in the Public Services Department, expects that a recommendation on whether to close all park events will be made by the end of this week.
If so, the City Commission could make the final decision as early as its next meeting on Monday.
Three events at this time are set to continue as scheduled in September – the city Chamber of Commerce’s Barktoberfest at Memorial Park, a Gilda’s Club 5K Run and the Jolly Pumpkin 5K run.
A second Witz event, the Rock & Ride carnival, is seeking to reschedule from July 4 to Sept. 25-27. The Metro Times Blowout event organizers want to reschedule from June to Oct. 2-3, and Art of Fire, formerly the Clay & Glass festival, wants to change its event from June to Aug. 8-9.
The annual Shakespeare in Park performances are still on the schedule for different parks from July 27 to Aug. 8. The performances are done with actors from the Water Works Theatre Company, founded and directed by Royal Oak attorney and resident Edward Nahhat.
City Commissioner Patricia Paruch said she has talked to Nahhat and the theatre group may not be able to put on the same kind of performances this year.
Nahhat “recognizes it will be difficult to put on a play with social distancing,” she said. “If they do it they are not really sure what it will look like. They recognize they may not be able to do the type of performance they (usually) do.”