Paseo Arts Fest, Music Fest Organizers Skirmish Over Events

Call it a fight over festivals.

Organizers of the Paseo Art Festival are now protecting their turf after organizers for a three-day Paseo Music Festival applied for a permit on Memorial Day weekend as well.

“We expect 60,000,” said Collin Rosebrook, the Director of the Paseo Arts Festival.

Rosebook said they’d support a music festival in the Paseo District, just not on that weekend.

The Arts Festival doesn’t want to compete for vendors and patrons with an an event just four blocks away at Dewey and NW 24 Street, Rosebook said.

This week, Paseo Music Festival organizers went before Oklahoma City City Council which decides of event permitting.

“Trying to give young original musicians a venue to have Oklahomans hear their music away from a bar-type scene,” Paseo Music Festival Organizer Susan Lavictoire told City Council members this week.

When opponents spoke out against granting a permit, the City Council gave both sides two weeks to come up with a solution.

This would be the first year for the music festival.

Lavictoire told council members she plans to eventually move the three days event to another weekend in future years.

She said Memorial Day weekend is a good weekend to recruit volunteers to work the event where 1,000 people are expected.

Rosebrook said even if the music festival brings bigger crowds to the Arts Festival, challenges grow.

“It’s a fairly big task to go around and make sure fire lanes are maintained,” said Rosebrook.