Panama City Beach - PCB music fest idea still afloat, petition launched

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A monster music festival rejected by the city council late last month isn’t dead yet — at least not in the promoter’s eyes.

“We’re exercising our options,” California-based concert organizer Ted Absher said recently of his plans for the first annual “Beach Scene Music Festival” in Panama City Beach.

And despite the cold reception here, “we’re not going to leave Panama City,” he said.

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On Oct. 22, the council stifled Absher’s pitch for the two-weekend, nearly 60-act music event at Frank Brown Park, striking down the idea with a unanimous vote.

The proposal included world-famous names on a list of “potential” performers: Paul McCartney, Green Day, Beyonce and others. None of them, however, appear to be committed.

Its tentative sponsors, according to Absher and his Endless Summer production company, include Web giant YouTube.com, which Absher said might broadcast some of the shows live online.

One councilman summed it up as a “train wreck. But the idea struck others as a gold mine.

An online petition at petitionspot.com — titled “Bring business to PCB by saying OK to music fest” — appeared a week later, insisting the council should reconsider. It had 96 supporters as of Sunday afternoon.

“All the issues the city council has could be alleviated with some creative thinking to help our businesses and ourselves,” it said.

Julie Hack, a manager at The Hangar high-end men’s clothing store in Panama City Beach, said she started the petition because she believes such a concert would boost everyone’s local business.

“It would bring so much money into our little town when its economy is struggling,” she said.

The council’s concerns include security — they do not want to revisit the type of mtvU-sponsored Lil’ Wayne rap concert that turned violent last Spring Break — and logistics.

Police Maj. David Humphreys told the council his agency couldn’t handle Absher’s crowd estimates — as many as 100,000 over two of the busiest Spring Break weekends.

Mayor Gayle Oberst agreed, but added that the city was investigating ways to add auxiliary police for large-scale events like Absher’s. That still leaves the question of a large-enough venue.

Absher, if he wants Frank Brown Park for his show, eventually will have to meet the city’s requirements under its new special events ordinance — and prove the event will have adequate security, bathrooms, parking, emergency services and insurance.

If he accomplished that, held his concert and it spun out of control, the city could shut it down, Oberst said.

The council pointed to the recent Seafood, Wine and Music Festival at Frank Brown as an approximation of its capacity (about 15,000 people per day).

Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Ferguson, too, was skeptical of Absher’s monstrous plan, but he still said he hopes Absher “didn’t walk away with a sour attitude on our location.”

“I think the door’s still open for a show of that magnitude as we grow,” Ferguson said. “I think people won’t be as closed-minded to it as some are.”

“I don’t know where he could have it. That’s a good question, and I guess that’s the magic question here: Where can it be?”

Back in California, Absher said he was spending the weeks after the council meeting “reaching out to some other entities in the city.” He declined to say who those were.

One competing venue, the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, east of Tallahassee, has expressed some interest.

“We’ve received more calls from more cities wanting us to come to their town,” Absher said. But “our emphasis is on Panama City and we’re trying to stay that way at least for the first year.”