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The Manhattan Music Coalition 1214 C Moro St. Manhattan, KS 66502 (785) 320-7151
http://www.myspace.com/mmclive
The MMC Pulls the Plug on the KONZA Music Festival
7/30/09
For immediate release:
The Manhattan Music Coalition announced this morning at the Riley
County Commissioners’ Meeting that they are pulling the plug on the
KONZA Music Festival, the 2-day music and camping fest scheduled for
August 7th & 8th. After very careful consideration, and cooperation
with Riley County Staff, the MMC decided that it was in the best
interest of the organization, its sponsors, vendors, staff, bands,
fans, and Riley County, to cancel the festival this year.
“We,
(the MMC), were naïve to think that we could have a music festival on
private land, out of city limits, and no one would bat an eye. To
ensure that we remained in an upstanding position with the authorities,
I emailed RCPD and MFD (local police and fire departments) to alert
them to our plans. This message was forwarded to County Staff, whose
jurisdiction, the private land in question fell under. This led to us
discovering that the land was actually zoned for agriculture and would
require a zoning variance process that takes longer than time would
allow. I was very moved that the County Staff was so accommodating to
us in trying to find the best avenue in which to proceed,” said Evan
Tuttle, MMC Core Officer.
“To my knowledge, the MMC is the
first organization to propose such an event in Riley County, so this
was a wonderful learning opportunity for all of us. We did not want to
put the County in a compromising position, because they would have had
to pass a special resolution to allow for this event, due to time,
which could result in the County being left vulnerable to too many
unknowns. This is not something that I, or the rest of the MMC, were
comfortable with. So, rather than rushing everyone involved, causing a
mad-scramble, and unintentionally putting the County at risk, we called
it off,” continued Tuttle.
“Now we and the County are in a
better position to make it happen the right way next time. KONZA Music
Festival, which donates 10% of their proceeds to the Friends of the
Konza Prairie, for preservation endeavors, will return next summer,
full-steam, and completely legit and hassle-free. County Staff has even
asked us to participate in the drafting of the paperwork (not a legal
term) that will allow for our event in the future,” said Tuttle.
Bands that were scheduled will be contacted about alternate gigs in the
Manhattan community for that Saturday, the 8th. “The bands are why we
exist. We will do everything in our power to keep them happy, just as
they have stepped up time and time again, to help us make the Manhattan
live music scene better and better,” said Tuttle.
Bands should be reached very soon, please email konzamusic@gmail.com to be sure.
Sponsors
will also be contacted. The MMC hopes that sponsorship funds can be
transferred to the 4th Annual Aggiefest, MMC’s OTHER music festival in
town, coming September 18th & 19th, to Aggieville. Bands interested
in playing Aggiefest should email aggiefestbands@gmail.com
“We
are at peace with this decision, and know that this was the right thing
to do,” added Tuttle. “We want to ensure continued support from our
community, and better to do it this way, than rushed and chaotic, and
risk KONZA never happening again.”
5:11 PM
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