Asheville’s East End community to Brewgrass beer fest: Find a new venue, your party doesn’t fit neighborhood

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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The Urban News covers East End residents’ displeasure with September’s upcoming Brewgrass Festival, which takes place in their neighborhood: Residents say attendees in previous years left Styrofoam coolers in yards, urinated on lawns, blocked driveways, dumped trash, and “talked nasty and ugly to several residents.”

The festival had been held in City/County Plaza–renovated and now renamed Pack Square Park–for years. Construction on the park required the festival to find a new location, and it hasn’t returned to downtown.

Longtime East End resident Mickey King points to an area where she alleges Brewgrass attendees threw trash and bottles. Photo: Urban News

Some East End residents don’t want a rowdy beer festival full of hard drinking to happen in their neighborhood anymore. The Urban News quotes Renee White, president of the East End Community Association as saying if she’d known the festival was coming back to MLK Park instead of returning downtown, residents would have asked festival organizers to find a new venue.

Resident Mandy Broderick also opposes having the fest in the East End.

“I am not against the Brewgrass Festival,” said resident Mandy Broderick. “The Asheville beer industry is an important part of the economic development of our city and contributes to its uniqueness. I do, however, agree that MLK Jr. Park, is not the right venue for such an event. The festival is not very representative of the East End community and its residents. Brewgrass should really be held in a non-residential area.”

Full article here. Is it time for this fest to leave an historic Asheville neighborhood and return downtown?

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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3 Comments

  1. Kelly June 18, 2012

    I hate that it’s in MLK Jr park. I would really like some shade whilst drinking all day in the sun.

    Reply
  2. bob June 18, 2012

    Pretty ironic considering styrofoam coolers and bottles are prohibited at Brewgrass. I think the Memorial Stadium was a better venue for the event anyway.

    Reply
  3. Nate June 18, 2012

    If the festival is a bad neighbor, and brings excessive trash and criminal behavior, then the neighborhood has every right to complain and ask that it be held elsewhere.

    However, claiming that the festival is “not representative of the neighborhood” is basically saying that use of a city-owned facility should be restricted to people who are “like” the ones who live closest to the facility, and that I don’t agree with.

    Reply

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