KINGWOOD — Yonderville Music & Arts Festival will proceed under Preston County’s current mass gathering ordinance when it arrives at the end of June.
Maxwell Stone, the organizer of the festival, emailed asking for confirmation he would be operating under the current ordinance, County Administrator Kathy Mace told the Preston County Commission on Tuesday.
She said he just wanted assurance that he wouldn’t need a permit and if he did, he needed to apply. Currently, the mass gathering permit only triggers at 3,000 people.
Commissioner Dave Price asked how many people would be at the festival and Mace said according to information provided, about 2,660. A breakdown provided by Stone earlier in the year estimates 150 staff, 200 artists, 60 vendors, and 2,200 attendees.
These things take a long time to plan and time is running short, Mace explained. There is also a lot of work on the admin side of things with plenty for Mace’s office, the 911 center and the sheriff’s office, to plan for. The festival is scheduled for June 30-July 3 at Marvin’s Mountaintop.
The commission has been working toward overhauling its mass gathering rules and permitting process after Resonance Festival, held in September, cost the county money largely through overtime for the sheriff’s office.
Changes being discussed include decreasing the threshold the ordinance triggers out from 3,000 people, increasing the fee per ticket to compensate for workers who don’t contribute to the fee but still could require emergency services, and extending notification deadlines.
However, the changes are nowhere close to being ready, Commission President Samantha Stone said. Commissioner Don Smith said to tell Stone it would be fine to proceed under the current ordinance.
Mace said she thought that was fair and equitable but wanted to speak with the commission first.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
