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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sandpoint To Evict Festival In 3 Years

The Festival at Sandpoint’s days at Memorial Field are numbered.

The City Council voted 5-1 Monday evening to boot the three-week musical extravaganza from its lakeside venue after the 1997 summer concert season. The city had considered ordering the festival out after next year.

The decision was made despite about 80 letters mailed and sent by fax to City Hall on Monday and nearly 130 festival supporters who packed into the council meeting.

“I’ve been struggling to find a compromise between the festival and neighbors so we can use our energy working together rather than fighting each other,” said council President Ray Miller, who suggested giving the festival a two-year reprieve.

The festival has outgrown the field and neighborhood, he said. But Miller insisted the organization needs more than a year to relocate from its 14-year venue.

Festival officials sat in silence after the vote.

“They (council members) have given us no choice. We have to eliminate Memorial Field as a possibility for a permanent site,” said Executive Director Connie Berghan.

She was stunned by the decision, which she said was forced by a minority of community members. Most of the people at the meeting wore bright pink tags that read: “Our Festival. We like it where it is.”

“There were an awful lot of people here who wanted us to stay at Memorial Field,” said festival organizer Jennifer Leedy.

Festival organizers still want to stay in the Sandpoint area, but they are not ruling out other cities, Berghan said.

Neighbors and other residents who had organized to fight the festival’s use of Memorial Field also were tepid about the council’s decision.

Members of the Memorial FieldLakeview Park Association wanted the festival banned from the field next year. The group plans to meet this week and decide whether to take legal action.

Miller anticipated his motion would not appease the two camps.

“When you find a compromise nobody likes, it’s probably the right one,” he joked.

The feud over the festival and Memorial Field heated up several months ago. Some neighbors said they have grown tired of the noise, traffic and crowds generated by the three weeks of concerts.

A group of athletic boosters also said the concerts conflict with sports events.

The groups collaborated and hired an attorney. They now claim the festival is in violation of residential zoning codes and threaten to sue the city.

But Councilwoman Susan Johnson said she wants to keep the issue out of court.

“This is a compromise I hope both sides can agree on,” she said. “Everyone has an attorney in one hand and money in the other. I would like to see these resources used to benefit the community, not fight each other.”

Festival supporters did not get a chance to speak Monday. Mayor Ron Chaney said the meeting was “decision time,” not a public hearing. Two public hearings had been held previously.

It appeared that local businesses hadn’t taken the feud seriously and added their support too late. Their stacks of letters, touting the festival as an economic blockbuster, sat unread by council members Monday night.

“Our store revenues increase significantly during the festival period, so much so that our retail sales actually exceed those at … Christmas,” wrote Dennis Pence, president of Coldwater Creek, a national mailorder catalog company located here.

Chaney did say the council action is only a resolution. It could be changed at any time by this council or a new one. Chaney’s and three members’ terms expire next year.