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Plano music festival on hold
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com, @Bill_PlanoStar on Twitter
More than 18 months after plans were announced to bring a music festival to Plano, no date or location have been selected for the multi-day event.
The festival, which would be a joint effort between the city of Plano and Live Nation -- an entertainment events company -- was first announced in October 2011. At that time, organizers said it could occur as soon as spring 2012. However, unforeseen delays have pushed the date back to 2014 at the earliest, said Amy Fortenberry, parks and recreation director.
"Our intent was to put together a festival in shorter order, but in the laying out of the master plan of the festival, Live Nation had some big concerns in the area of the park that we identified," Fortenberry said. "The problem was that the area was in a floodplain and Live Nation didn't want to invest millions of dollars into a festival that had the potential of being flooded out."
Emily Kopp, marketing director for Live Nation Dallas, said the company had no comment on the festival. However, Fortenberry said other locations in the 801-acre park are being considered, including areas near Fire Station 11 on the eastern side of the Park off Los Rios Boulevard.
"Our goal is to do the best we can and to put on a world-class music festival," Fortenberry said. "The idea is that it would start off smaller and grow to a festival where we would attract up to 70,000 people per day."
The desire for a music festival of this size is present in the North Texas region, Fortenberry said, adding that with Live Nation's backing the event should be able to attract top talent from various musical genres. If the festival reaches its target number, it would be only slightly smaller than the yearly Austin City Limits Festival, which in 2012 attracted acts including Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Black Keys.
"We are committed to the idea of producing a multi-day, music-driven definitive festival in this area," said Danny Eaton, a senior vice president with Live Nation, told the Plano City Council in October 2011. "In our view, Oak Point Park can prove to be a near perfect venue to produce this event.
"We believe that by producing this festival in the city of Plano, we will establish Plano as the center for the most definitive music festival in North Texas for years and years to come."
Fortenberry said her staff hopes to come to an agreement with Live Nation by the end of March, allowing for the item to come before the city council in April. If an agreement is worked out, Fortenberry said the city may also contract with Live Nation to handle booking for the amphitheater at Oak Point, therefore opening the door to high-profile artists to perform there.
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