What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1250205
During his May 4 daily media update, Gov. Hutchinson declared the May 18 date for large venues — a 14-day window that would allow the state to monitor results of the phased reopenings. At the briefing, both Gov. Hutchinson and Arkansas Secretary of Health, Dr. Nate Smith, cited the Guidelines for Opening Up America Again released by the White House as justification for the May 18 date. The guidelines lay out a three-phrase approach for businesses and locations to reopen, allowing for discretion on the part of individual states and governors. Gov. Hutchinson and the Arkansas Department of Health resolved to further isolate those phases in order to see the greatest impact of each action during the reopening, Smith shared on that date. By phasing in the types of businesses and gatherings allowed to reopen, Smith said, it would give the state time to get the appropriate protocols in place should Arkansas see a resurgence in virus cases. "Our principle here is, we'd like to be as fair as possible, but it's really based on the risk of covid-19 transmission and what restrictions we can put in place to make those safe," Smith said on May 4. "In many cases, those restrictions are big sacrifices for those industries, but if they can keep the risk of covid-19 transmission to a minimum during this Phase One, we're OK with moving forward with it." Despite the tension surrounding the event, the show was as great a success as it could have been, Brown said the morning after. Around 170 audience members — some ticketholders were unable to be there after the concert's date change — attended what is presumed to be the nation's first socially distanced indoor concert, before McCready headed north for an outdoor concert the following night in Pineville, Mo. "It was surprisingly good," Brown said proudly of the show. "It was loud. It was alive. It was everything you'd think a rock show would be." Mazur was in agreement over the show's achievement, while stressing the importance for correct safety measures, like he believes TempleLive established. It's not just elderly people dying from the disease, he said, almost begging for people to take the precautions seriously. "Long Island, where I live in New York — I'm not in New York City, I'm out on Long Island — it looks like around here," he said of Fort Smith. "We didn't think it was going to hit us. And boy, when it hit us, it spread fast. So you have to take every precaution so it doesn't spread. I want to get back to work; I want everybody to get back to work. But you have to take the necessary precautions to get back to work." Mazur, who was a medical photographer at the height of the AIDS crisis, said before the show that he was impressed with the measures in place at TempleLive and is optimistic about the way forward for music. "People need it," he said of the concert sparking a "new normal." "People have to have hope, and they're hoping to get on with their lives. So that's why it's so important. And that's why people want to get back into church. This is my church — live music, this is my church. I need it. Music is good for the soul, especially live music. You feel it, you know?" MAY 24-30, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 39 Temple Continued From Page 3 Mike Brown, vice president of TempleLive, second from left, watches Travis McCready perform on stage during the May 18 concert at TempleLive in Fort Smith. According to Arkansas Department of Health directives, everyone in attendance over the age of 10 was required to wear a face mask. People were seated in "fan pods," groups of two to 13, and were required to be separated by six feet of space. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images) On May 18, around 170 concertgoers attended an intimate solo performance by blues rocker Travis McCready at TempleLive in Fort Smith — presumed to be the nation's first indoor concert since the pandemic shut down live performances in March. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images) Blues rocker Travis McCready, frontman of Mississippi band Bishop Gunn, performs on stage during the first post-cvid socially distanced concert on May 18 at TempleLive in Fort Smith. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images) RIVER VALLEY