What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1250205
Despite organizers' assurances of a safe experience for audience and performers under detailed covid-19 operating protocol, controversy around blues rocker Travis McCready's intimate acoustic show has been escalating for weeks. Announced on April 23, the original performance date for the concert was supposed to be Friday, May 15. But when Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced plans for the limited reopenings of indoor venues like theaters, arenas and lecture halls, the proposed date of May 18 came three days after the scheduled McCready performance. The venue and concert organizers' unwillingness to back down — confident their safety precautions would be enough defense from viral spread — instigated a back-and-forth between TempleLive and the governor's office and Arkansas Department of Health that drew national, and even international, attention. A cease-and- desist order was issued; the club's liquor license was "ripped" from the wall by Alcoholic Beverage Control Division agents, Brown said in a press conference; and use of law enforcement was threatened. The show, of course, was eventually required to move to the state's designated date — "against our will, that's key," Brown asserted. But even at three days later than hoped for, the concert is still one of, if not the very first, post-covid concert to take place in a large, indoor venue. "It was as soon as it hit the media, I saw this, and I just had to be part of it, to help get everything back on track," Mazur said of the show. "I love live music. It's the heart and soul of our country. Everybody wants to go to live music and go out and enjoy themselves, but you have to take precautions. So I'm looking at what they're doing here and I'm saying to myself, 'This is what they're going to be doing for all concert venues, until we get a vaccine, and everybody can get back to normal.'" "I am glad we were able to resolve the issue in a way that brought the concert in compliance with Arkansas Department of Health directives," said Gov. Hutchinson via email the night of the performance. "Music is important to Arkansas, and I'm delighted that we are able to host one of the first concerts in the country during this pandemic. We are all ready for music to echo through the hills again." Among the precautions in place for McCready's performance, the 1,100-capacity house was reduced by 80 percent, with fewer than 250 tickets available for purchase. The venue was promised to be sanitized before and after the event. Groups of two to 13 were to be seated separated by six feet, and audience members would be required to wear masks. "The only thing we had to change" between the concert's April 23 announcement and the May 18 performance date, Brown revealed, "was that masks were mandatory for anyone over the age of 10. Everything else was pretty much over and above what the state was requiring large venues to do. So their narrative that we didn't comply, the only thing that we didn't comply with was the date that was chosen for whatever reason by the Arkansas Department of Health and the governor's office." MAY 24-30, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 3 See Temple Page 39 A concertgoer has her temperature taken prior to entering the first socially distanced concert at TempleLive in Fort Smith. The concert was originally scheduled for May 15, but the governor's office and the Arkansas Department of Health maintained the ban on gatherings in large, indoor venues until May 18, ultimately resulting in the concert's change of date. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)