SNOW HILL – Officials this week approved the promoter’s license that will allow alcohol sales at Oceans Calling this fall.
The Worcester County Board of License Commissioners (BLC) voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve the promoter’s license application submitted by Spectrum Catering, Concessions and Events, the company that will provide hospitality services during Oceans Calling. The three-day music festival, set for Sept. 29-Oct. 1, is expected to be the largest event Ocean City’s ever hosted. Festival officials assured the board they’d do everything necessary to ensure alcohol sales at the event were handled properly.
“We understand the severity,” said Tim Sweetwood of C3 Presents, the festival promoter. “It’s not something we take lightly.”
Last month, resort officials and festival organizers met with the board to outline their plans for Oceans Calling. While the festival was initially approved last year, it was canceled because of inclement weather. This year, organizers agreed to include a portion of the Boardwalk in the fenced-in festival grounds. Businesses included in the festival footprint will operated under the same hours as Oceans Calling.
This week, attorney Mark Cropper told the board nothing had changed since that initial meeting with the BLC but that organizers were back this month seeking official approval of the promoter’s license that would allow the event to proceed as planned.
Cropper reiterated that the main change with this year’s festival footprint was the inclusion of the Boardwalk and 64 businesses on it. He noted the footprint will also include the pier. While attendees can carry their drinks there, no alcohol will be sold on the pier and drinks will not be able to be taken on rides.
He said that event security had been a key focus throughout the festival planning process.
“There was a great deal of discussion as to how the arena would be secured,” he said.
Cropper explained 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.
“There’s security to make sure these violations don’t take place,” he said.
Cropper stressed that all of the merchants included in the festival footprint had agreed to operate during the same hours as Oceans Calling, which will be from noon until 10:30 p.m. every day.
Sweetwood, whose company has produced the NFL draft, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Sea Hear Now, said there would be two entrances to the festival grounds, which run from the Inlet to North Division Street and include the Inlet parking lot, the beach, the Boardwalk and the businesses in that area. He said that everyone attending, event, employees, had to go through one of those two designated entrances.
Cropper pointed out that the expansion of the festival grounds to include the Boardwalk would mean there was a larger footprint to accommodate the thousands of people who would attend.
“It’s much easier for them to traverse that area if the Boardwalk’s included,” he said.
Board member Marty Pusey asked how the public would be notified that a key section of the Boardwalk would only be open to concertgoers during Oceans Calling.
Mayor Rick Meehan said the town would be working with the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association and the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and that those organizations would share the message with their members. He added that there would also be information online, on television and in the newspaper.
“We’re going to use all the same outlets we currently use,” Meehan said.
Cropper noted that the event was in late September.
“This event’s not taking place on a July Fourth weekend,” he said.
Zach Bankert, executive director of the Ocean City Development Corporation, told the board he had spoken with every business owner whose establishment was being included in the footprint.
“They feel like it’s much more beneficial to be included in the footprint than excluded from the footprint,” he said.
Ocean City resident Vince Gisriel told the board he had several concerns about the Oceans Calling event. His primary worry is the amount alcohol that will be sold at the event.
“When you have 50,000 people available to drink from noon until 10:30 p.m., that is a situation that is ripe from trouble and I’m very concerned about it,” he said.
Gisriel said that if the weather went sour during the event, dealing with that number of attendees, many of whom would have been drinking, could be difficult.
“There’s a situation that might be hard to contain and deal with…,” he said. “I’m concerned about the liability the town has taken on with this kind of event.”
Gisriel went on to add that festival attendees would disrupt the thousands of resort residents who used public transportation on a regular basis. He suggested that if the board approved the event that limitations be added.
Cropper said that the event as proposed took into account all of the board’s rules regarding alcohol.
“Everything included in the application is in furtherance of meeting those requirements,” Cropper said.
Sweetwood said there would be free water stations set up throughout the festival.
Dave Smalley of Spectrum Catering said attendees could only purchase two drinks at a time. He said his staff was trained to identify issues related to alcohol and had a protocol in place to handle situations that might come up.
Sweetwood added that C3 hosted extremely large events throughout the country. While he wasn’t looking at the exact numbers for Oceans Calling, he said there would be about 300 security employees as well as Ocean City Police Department officers in the vicinity. He said there would also be about 75 EMTs and 11 representatives of a security management team.
Smalley added that they had four retired alcoholic beverage control agents working for them to ensure no underage drinking occurred.
“They’re very effective,” he said.
Pusey said she empathized with Gisriel’s position and understood his concern about people who’d potentially been drinking for 10 hours being released onto area roads.
“We’re pushing public transportation,” Sweetwood said, adding that not all attendees stayed the full day and not all attendees consumed alcohol.
William Esham, chair of the BLC, acknowledged that it was a large event but pointed out that the legislation that created the promoter’s license had passed and that for the Oceans Calling hearing, Gisriel was the only member of the public in attendance to voice concerns.
“It makes me nervous as well,” Esham said, adding that the organizers had done their best to address the concerns. “They’ve covered all the bases they can.”
The board voted 3-0 to approve the Oceans Calling application.
