SNOW HILL – County officials reviewed the proposed layout and security measures for the Oceans Calling Festival this week.
While promoters and Ocean City officials will return for formal approval next month, the Worcester County Board of License Commissioners (BLC) reviewed plans for the three-day festival at a meeting on Wednesday.
“No decisions are made today,” said Tom Coates, the board’s attorney. “This is totally information gathering.”
Attorney Mark Cropper, representing resort officials and festival organizers, told the board he’d be returning to seek the newly created promoter’s license to allow for alcohol sales at the event after the law went into effect July 1. For now though, he said he wanted organizers to share event information with the board so they’d have an idea of what the plan was for the massive music festival.
The biggest change for this year’s event, as opposed to what was approved last year, is that this year a portion of the Boardwalk will be included in the fenced-in festival grounds. Cropper said the town had obtained consent from 100% of the businesses in that area. Those businesses will be within the festival area and will operate under the same hours as the event, which ends at 11 p.m.
“The merchants very much want to be in the arena,” he said. “They don’t want to be fenced out.”
He explained that there would be a limited number of entrances into the event and that if businesses weren’t included, it would be hard for festival attendees to get to shops now within the fence.
“What C3 and Spectrum are trying to create here is a more inclusive arena,” he said. “This is the largest event Ocean City will ever have experienced.”
Tim Sweetwood of C3 Presents told the board his company produced the NFL draft and organized large music festivals all across the country. Dave Smalley of Spectrum Concessions said his company worked with C3 to provide hospitality for many of those events as well as other large-scale programs such as the PGA Tour and Cirque du Soleil.
Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said he’d spent the last several months meeting with downtown merchants to address their questions and concerns about the impact Oceans Calling would have on them. He said he felt all their concerns had been addressed, something evident in the fact that all 65 businesses in the proposed festival area had agreed to be involved. He said that with the shops being within the fenced area, festivalgoers could go in and out with their purchases.
“I think it’s very important to recognize all of these merchants see a distinct advantage to being part of that footprint,” Meehan said.
Cropper noted that attendees would not be permitted to carry drinks from one establishment to another. He said C3 would be providing security for every business within the footprint to ensure that drinks purchased in a bar like Purple Moose, for example, weren’t carried out of the building and that drinks purchased at one of the festival bars weren’t carried into Boardwalk bars.
Cropper asked Smalley to address how organizers would ensure minors didn’t have access to alcohol during the event.
Smalley said there would be identification checks and wristbands, which will change daily, to identify patrons over the age of 21. He also showed the board the ID reader his staff would use, which can differentiate real IDs from fake IDs.
“This is a huge deterrent,” he said.
Smalley added that adults would only be able to purchase two drinks at a time and that he had a company from New Jersey coming in to help his staff ensure no one under 21 was able to drink alcohol.
“He and his team will be with us to hunt down these minors and expel them from the festival,” he said.
Sweetwood added that because C3 and Spectrum worked on these large events all across the country they made efforts to be extremely proactive when it came to avoiding problems.
Cropper told the board that while Oceans Calling had been capped at 37,500 tickets last year, this year C3 was selling up to 50,000 tickets and because of the increased attendance wanted the Boardwalk included in the festival grounds to help with the flow of traffic once the event is over.
“If you have the Boardwalk inclusive in the arena, patrons have the width of the Boardwalk to aid in that migration,” he said.
Cropper noted that the pier would be included in the festival grounds as well but that no alcohol would be sold on it. He added that Oceans Calling would likely attract attendees of all ages.
“From ticket sales it’s showing an average age of mid 30s,” Sweetwood said, adding that ticket sales appeared to be on par with last year, as Friday and Saturday are sold out and Sunday is close.
When asked about security at the gates, Sweetwood said there would be magnetometer screenings and that attendees would have to bring in clear bags like they did at many major sports games. He said there would be security personnel at each gate as well as roving security throughout the festival grounds.
City Manager Terry McGean praised the wide-ranging plans of C3.
“C3, of all the promoters we deal with, has been the most professional and the most prepared,” he said.
Police Chief Ross Buzzuro said he’d been impressed as well.
“We believe we’re going to have a good event,” he said.
William Esham, chair of the BLC, asked about businesses on the Boardwalk that were permitted to have carryout alcohol sales. Cropper said they’d have to agree not to offer carryout during the event if they were within the festival grounds.
Esham asked why organizers wanted to include the Boardwalk. Meehan responded that it was for a number of reasons, one of which was safety.
“One is the safe flow of traffic,” he said. “It creates a safer corridor. Also because the merchants want to be included.”
He said that if the businesses were fenced out, it would be hard for people to leave Oceans Calling to shop. Sweetwood added that the fence would be going up overnight so as not to impact merchants’ business on non-festival days.
BLC member Marty Pusey asked roughly what it would cost for a family of four to attend Oceans Calling. Sweetwood said it would be about $750.
Pusey said that might disappoint visitors who were in Ocean City that weekend.
“I just would expect to walk the Boardwalk but I can’t because what is normally public is no longer public,” she said.
Meehan stressed that the public would be notified that a portion of the Boardwalk would be closed well in advance. Jessica Waters, Ocean City’s communications and marketing director, added that Oceans Calling was in late September, not one of the resort’s busiest times.
“We have people traveling from I think every state to come to this event,” she said. “We think offering the Boardwalk creates a safer experience for them, a more enjoyable experience for them.”
She added that resort partners such as the Ocean City Development Corporation and the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce would help spread the message.
Oceans Calling organizers are expected to return to the board after July 1 for formal approval for the event. Coates said this was too large of an event for the board to review all of the information in one sitting. He added that board members would have the next month to advise him of any questions they had regarding what has been proposed for the festival.