Studer Community Institute

Meeting shows high interest for downtown music festival revival

February 19, 2015
/ Mike Ensley
/ community-dashboard

It was standing room only in the training center at the Maritime Place office building on Wednesday night as interested locals came together to offer input on bringing a music festival back to downtown Pensacola. “I set up this meeting to see if there would be interest in doing this,” said local entrepreneur Quint Studer, addressing the crowd of over 150 people. “I think we can skip that first step.” Studer was inspired to gauge interest in the idea by a video blog posted by Pensacola News Journal reporter Troy Moon, who remembered the once powerhouse Florida SpringFest, which ran annually from 1990-2005. “In 2005, there were some attendance problems, some management problems, some money problems,” Moon says in the video. “But Pensacola wasn’t the same as it is now.” Moon fondly remembers seeing acts that played the annual festival, including headliners Joan Jett, Steve Earle and Hootie and the Blowfish, who played before a crowd of 50,000 people. Other national acts that played the festival included such diverse artists as Willie Nelson, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chingy, Chuck Berry, The B-52s, Blues Traveller, The Dixie Chicks, Run D.M.C., Lonestar, Smashmouth, The Allman Brothers Band and many others. The Florida SpringFest was the brainchild of local businessman Bill Dollarhide and Jackie Baker, who began on Palafox Street with a modest mix of local and regional acts and benefitted local charities Five Flags Sertoma, Pensacola Sertoma and the Ronald McDonald House. The festival grew quickly and by 1994, moved over to the much larger area on Spring Street. In 2004, a new management company moved it inside the Pensacola Civic Center. The festival returned to the streets in 2005, but following losses, was not able to recover financially and ended. Wednesday’s meeting showed that many locals are hungry for a festival to return to downtown. The audience offered suggestions on what SpringFest did right: reasonable admission prices, family friendly, a variety of local, regional and national artists and local pride in the event. And they also spoke to what SpringFest could have done better: quality, not quantity of bands, best use of downtown space and keeping the festival more local. Studer said the next step would be a survey sent out to those who attended the meeting to gather their ideas and the formation of committees to discuss issues such as the time of year to hold the new festival, location, entertainment, finances and duration. “I am good at facilitating things and that’s what I am here to do,” Studer said of his role in the possible festival. Those in attendance said they were pleased with the turnout, the ideas and the possible return of a festival downtown. “I’m in,” said Buck Mitchell, one of the owners of Seville Quarter. “I think this is great for the city and I personally loved it when Bo Diddley played out our back door.” Studer said that he would be willing to invest in going forward with the festival or make a loan to front some start up costs if a feasible plan was in place for its success. “This turnout has been remarkable,” Studer said. Moon, who inspired the possible return of the festival, was encouraged by the crowded room. “I’m surprised,” Moon said. “This turnout shows that there is a great fondness for what SpringFest once was and for what it meant to downtown.”

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Meeting shows high interest for downtown music festival revival

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