Last August, Pop Montreal set up at "our" park during the sidewalk sale. It struck me as odd that there had been such a fuss about the Fringe being there in the spring, yet the City of Montreal continued to allow loud music there. I took some lousy pictures at the time, and finally in April dropped them off at the Fringe office, just in case they'd be useful.
It seemed worth getting out into public view, just in case there were problems, so I sent the letter below to Hour, and they published it in their May 3rd 2007 edition. (But, they don't seem to put the letter page online, I've never found it, so I have to put it up myself here.)
It's a truncated letter. I thought of 1995 when the infobooth was a trailer parked on St. Lawrence Blvd, and the parking meter had to be fed on a regular basis, because the City would not accomodate the Fringe. There have been rumors going around for some years about the current location of the Beer Tent.
But it's also a jab at the way cities are run. It's technically illegal to poster, yet postering helps small groups connect with the public. Yet, Big Groups not only have money to advertise in old media, but the City has a pilot project so they can get their posters up in certain spots. I use to pass by the jazz festival in the early days, when stopping to take some of it in while passing by was a nice treat. But I haven't been in at least 15 years, since they take over that chunk of area and you can't even pass through on your way somewhere else without being searched. There was also that neat ice cream store within the "jazzfest compound" that wasn't allowed to sell beer during the festival, yet had to live with being inside that area. And it's also a jab at the Big Events that have lost money, spectator things where the audience is merely consumers of the product, where being there does little to change them. Community is usually messy, because it's about interaction, yet the City often wants things clean.
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:07:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Michael Black
To: letters@hour.ca
Subject: The Fringe Fest beer tent
It seemed like the issue of the Fringe Festival beer tent was never really resolved last year. A lot of reluctance on the City's part, then a last minute reprieve that put limits on the beer tent's operation. An implication that the City would make an exception one time, and then a new location would have to be found. On the Festival's part, it meant restricted hours, which would have been a far bigger issue if the weather had been nicer.
With the Fringe 5 weeks away, all this rises up again. I want to point out that during the St. Lawrence Blvd sidewalk sale last August, Pop Montreal set up at the very same location. The City even supplied the fencing around the area.
Surely if having the Fringe's beer tent there is so devastating to the neighborhood, the City would not have turned around and given permission to another group to play music there.
Small festivals and events do more for community than the large ones. Yet, the large ones get away with a lot more because of their "economic impact".
Michael Black