Merchants upset that city is shifting popular concert series to Swimming Pool Park

Tooele City is moving its popular Fridays on Vine concert series out of downtown, which has angered downtown merchants who helped establish the event as a way of revitalizing the beleaguered area.

In 2006, the first year of Fridays on Vine, all of the concerts were held downtown at Veterans Memorial Park. This year, four of the 11 scheduled concerts were held at Swimming Pool Park, at the corner of Vine Street and 200 West. And next year, every concert of the series will shift to Swimming Pool Park, according to Tooele Mayor Patrick Dunlavy.

Dunlavy said the move was necessitated by larger crowds, complaints by performers about noise from busy SR-36, and positive feedback from audiences about Swimming Pool Park as a venue.

“The event is getting bigger than Veterans Memorial Park can handle, and with the big crowds that we have now, it’s hard to fit them all in there,” Dunlavy said. “Swimming Pool Park has more trees, more parking, and more of a conducive atmosphere for concerts. According to a survey we did with those who come to Fridays on Vine, there’s been an overwhelmingly positive response about moving it completely to Swimming Pool Park. There is an amphitheater-type setting there with more room and grass, and I’ve talked to several people who think it’s a great place to have the event.”

But those reasons aren’t going down well with downtown merchants, many of whom feel they’re being cut out of an event they helped create.

In 2006, the Tooele Downtown Alliance pitched the idea for Fridays on Vine to the City Council, and both groups worked together on establishing the event as a way to increase the visibility of the downtown area.

Becki Bryant, owner of Main Street gift-and-decor shop Homebodies, said the concerts were working to drive business into her store. She also mentioned that Tooele City had done a great job in helping out with the event over the years.

“Fridays on Vine gave people more of a reason to come downtown and see all the shops that they might not have known were here,” she said. “The city has helped lend money and support for Fridays on Vine, and I’m hoping they will reconsider their decision.”

Bryant said changing venues now will set back the entire downtown revitalization effort.

“The purpose of Fridays on Vine was to get more people into the downtown area, and without it downtown won’t be as visible as it was before,” she said. “I would keep my store open late until the concerts would start, and people would come in and check it out, tell me I had a great shop, and say they would come back later. I also think that if Main Street’s new restaurant Sostanza [still in the planning stages] stayed open for the concerts like my store did, it would bring a lot of people in for dinner. Fridays on Vine made people realize that downtown and Veterans Memorial Park could be a happening area. But now if it’s out of sight it will be out of mind.”

Cloyd George, owner of Nu Cleaners at the corner of Vine Street and Garden Street and former chairman of the Downtown Alliance, agreed that moving Fridays on Vine would hurt downtown merchants.

“People will be more likely to bypass the businesses here without events like Fridays on Vine,” he said. “I’d like to see even more downtown events that are similar to Fridays on Vine or the Downtown Tooele Trick-or-Treat. A Christmas Walk where everyone goes from store to store one night during that time of season would be fun.”

However, Chris Escobedo, owner of Grinders skate shop on Main Street, said Fridays on Vine doesn’t bring more customers into his store.

“We haven’t seen an increase or a decrease of business from Fridays on Vine, and I think the event could have also distracted people from going into businesses,” he said. “When people are walking downtown and see a concert going on, they’re going to attend that event and not bother going into stores. Because my store is a specialty store, people would have come here regardless of whether Fridays on Vine was going on at the time.”

On the other hand, Corey Price, owner of Upgrades Etcetera Computers, which is directly opposite Veterans Memorial Park on Vine Street, said he was able to take advantage of Fridays on Vine to market his business.

“At Fridays on Vine, I had been handing out business cards and talking to people, and more people started coming in to shop,” Price said. “I would also walk around downtown and introduce myself to people who were there for Fridays on Vine. It was a good way to get people downtown and notice the businesses.”

Michelle Pitt, administrative assistant to the mayor and entertainment coordinator for Fridays on Vine, said logistics originally forced the city to move some concerts out of Veterans Memorial Park.

“We asked the performers if they needed to perform on a stage, and if so, we had to move them down to Swimming Pool Park,” she said. “There is much more room down there, and it is easier for the trucks to back up and unload the stage. Veteran’s Memorial Park was a good venue, but with the way the trees were planted, there was no way we could get the stage through them.”

Pitt also said performers prefer Swimming Pool Park to Veterans Memorial Park.

“Some of the performers who played at Veteran’s Memorial Park said it was too noisy with the traffic, didn’t have enough shade, and had a poor sound system,” she said. “We had no complaints from those who played Swimming Pool Park, only good comments.”

Dunlavy said moving Fridays on Vine doesn’t lessen the city’s commitment to downtown revitalization.

“We have worked hard to revitalize downtown and agreed that having the event at Veteran’s Memorial Park would be a good idea, but because the location hasn’t worked we have to move it somewhere that works better,” he said. “However, we should still have the Farmer’s Market, the Business to Business Expo, and the Cinco De Mayo celebration at Veteran’s Memorial Park next year. It is an honorable park that needs to be utilized when appropriate. We’re also still hanging in there with downtown and trying to recruit businesses. We haven’t abandoned the area, and are still committed to it.”

Doug Radunich: dougrad@tooeletranscript.com