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July 04, 2014 - 8:10 AM
Hey kids! Boonstock is only three weeks away! Nothing but fun and sun and music and culture and stuff! It’s all good all the time!
Just please don’t look behind the curtain.
I know I’ll be accused of being the grumpy old parent shushing the teenagers on their three-day sleepover, but I wish I didn’t have to. Boonstock should be a great addition to Penticton. It’s a boost for tourism, puts us back on the entertainment map and make Penticton THE summer destination again.
Who’d complain about that?
But amid the excitement of a great line up of music and fun… may we be permitted to ask a few questions about minor little things like security?
I know, even the Penticton Chamber of Commerce thinks we are poo-poohing the event but that’s really all the media, councillors, police and others are looking for is some simple answers.
And no one from Boonstock—no one—is answering them. Barb Haynes, the organizer, is no doubt busy. Too busy to answer or return phone calls unless, as she told the Penticton Western News, it’s to talk about “fun stuff.” There’s no one else to answer the making-sure-people-don’t-die stuff.
Again, I wish it was only fun stuff. But their security company dumped them this week—three weeks before the show. And their only response is a Facebook post assuring fans the show will go on.
The Okanagan has a long, tortured history of event promoters making promises they couldn’t keep, so we’ll still have to ask the questions. I hope they can pull this together. I hope the 8,500 fans come down and never have to see what’s behind the curtain.
Those of us asking questions are just looking for a little reassurance. Why not give us some?
To contact the reporter for this story, email Meaghan Archer at marcher@infotelnews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, Marshall Jones, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014