To the Expositor:
In regards to the letter to the editor in the April 27 edition of The Expositor, (Country Fest organizers take issue with Northeast Town mayor’s comment, page 5), I would like to comment on the use and abuse of Low Island Park for this private function.
You state that you clean up after this event. This is true, after a fashion. What is not cleaned up are the cardboard boxes and plastic bags that have blown into the sumac bushes, the myriad of cigarette butts up on the pathway—the piles of which do not biodegrade and are still around until picked up by park users over the months following. According to Google, these take upwards of 20 years to biodegrade. The spent fireworks littering the hill and shoreline near the point and the plastic eating utensils all over the property fill many grocery bags over the months that follow. The plastic ties from the temporary fencing are discarded as they are cut. The used cooking oil, dumped on the ground, attracts scavengers, which eat it as well as the soil it is dumped on, probably much to the dismay of their digestive systems.
This park is taken out of use for regular park goers for days before the event at the busiest time of the year. When I walked down to visit the beach the day before, I was told the beach was not accessible, even though it is not part of the fenced-off area. The music is offensive. The crowds are loud. I live some blocks away, but cannot sit outside without being annoyed by this. Is there not a sound bylaw in this town? Do the people who attend this event benefit the town? What other organization are you talking about that is treated better than you are? When an organization that is important to this town (the firefighters) were berated from your stage two years ago for making some money from parking on private property, I knew I was in the wrong place. The friends who came to stay with me to attend the concert and listen to Crystal Shawanda asked what that was about and when I explained it to them, they decided not to came back to an event run by such people.
Where in heaven’s name did the suggested community impact of $900,000 come from? We don’t have enough restaurants and motels in the area to make up this amount of business. If someone is making this much money from this event, it surely isn’t the taxpayers or the town. In fact, we are asked to subsidize it. During the concert there was lots of room at the restaurant I frequent for breakfast. I would like to hear from specific businesses that benefit from this event. Perhaps I’m wrong. It has happened.
It boggles the mind to think this event is being put on out of the kindness of your hearts.
Every radio station in the area gives airtime to community events. It’s just good business. It may be why people listen to your station.
Patricia Scriver
Little Current
