West Beach Music Festival Takes a Few Steps Forward

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By Ben Preston, Noozhawk Staff Writer

Now on a two-day schedule, the concert may yet be held near Chase Palm Park

Time is running short for this year’s West Beach Music & Arts Festival but there are signs the third annual festival actually will play as planned this September.

The potential location has moved a mile or so east of Santa Barbara’s West Beach, to the soccer field next to Chase Palm Park Center, 236 E. Cabrillo Blvd. Talks between the concert’s promoters, city officials and various stakeholders are continuing but with about 70 days left until the event’s scheduled date, Jeremy and Josh Pemberton — the twin brothers at the helm of Twiin Productions — are confident that they can pull it off.

A meeting Tuesday with the city’s Arts and Crafts Advisory Committee resulted in the festival being shaved to two days from three — the committee had earlier expressed concern that it would impinge upon artists’ weekend sales at the Santa Barbara Arts & Crafts Show along East Cabrillo Boulevard — but the number of people allowed on Friday and Saturday was increased slightly to 8,500 per day.

“Now that we’ve got these two days, we want people to see what the festival is all about,” Josh Pemberton told Noozhawk, expressing hope that members of the City Council and public who had been opposed to having another year of the West Beach Festival could see its community benefit.

“There’s been this hysteria that’s just not the truth.”

While they reported having had a positive interaction with the Arts and Crafts crowd, the Pembertons noted with dismay that a video highlighting the 2009 festival’s lax security was displayed at the very beginning of the committee’s meeting. The video had initially been shown by the Santa Barbara Police Department at last month’s council hearing that sounded the death knell for the festival’s original West Beach location.

“That’s not cooperation — we were there to create something that works, not show people the worst of the worst of 2009,” Josh Pemberton said. “We weren’t even given a chance.”

He noted that although Twiin Productions had hoped for the original Friday-Sunday format for the concert, he and his brother are happy to focus on a two-day festival if that’s what is being offered.

Comparing the West Beach Music & Arts Festival with the city’s summer Concerts in the Park series, held just across the street from the soccer field, Josh Pemberton pointed out that quite a few people fill that venue on a weekly basis.

“I went to Concerts in the Park the other night and there were 5,000 people in there,” he said. “I just wanted to put it into perspective that something like this happens every Thursday for eight weeks of summer.”

Twiin Productions has been in numerous meetings with city officials over the past couple of weeks trying to get its application together for the new venue. Community Development director Paul Casey said that although the city has received only a partial application from the Pembertons, all parties appear to be working collaboratively to make the event work.

“We fully understand that time is of the essence, and we’re willing to work with (the Pembertons),” Casey said.

Josh Pemberton explained that the application is nearing completion as documentation — including updated computer-aided design maps, a neighborhood impact study, traffic plan and parking solution, among others — is completed in conjunction with the new venue. The Pembertons hope to work out a deal with Calvary Chapel and MarBorg Industries, both of which have large complexes in the Lower Eastside industrial zone, to provide parking for the event.

The most pressing issue for the promoters right now appears to be ticket sales. With the number of tickets available reduced to 17,000 from 45,000 last year, they are facing a significant drop in sales. Plus, with the length of the festival now two days, a number of refunds have been offered on the three-day passes already sold.

“We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us because we sold 1,500 three-day passes and because it’s now only going to be a two-day event,” said Josh Pemberton, adding that the company has already made a few refunds and will be able to sell the tickets again as two-day passes for a different rate.

“Talking to one of the talent agents who got their act moved back just put things in perspective,” he said. “We just lost a third of our tickets.”

Despite the setbacks, Twiin Productions has continued working with bands interested in playing the show. Josh Pemberton said the main act should be announced within the next couple of weeks.

— Noozhawk staff writer Ben Preston can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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