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Willie’s Verizon Wireless Picnic
So the Fourth of July Picnic is returning to Texas. Good. Going to San Antone. Good. Set for the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater? Eh.
The music will be good. Always is. That’s why we go. But the picnic, year to year, is defined by its venue. And Selma’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater is hardly inspiring.
Willie had a “family picnic” there in August 2001 and my best-ever girlfriend bought us tickets for my birthday (that’s why I married her).
Here’s what I remember about the show: Hayseed Dixie (the band that did the country covers of AC/DC songs) played. Dennis Quaid played, looking like he was taking it much too seriously. Willie played quite a while. And 20-ounce beers were $6.50 each.
I had fun. But it was no picnic.
So why have the Fourth of July Picnic there? Why was last year’s picnic in Washington at a corporate-owned amphitheater?
If you’ve studied the history of the picnic, you’ve noted that having a picnic in a rural field (Luckenbach, Carl’s Corner, Willie’s country club) presents quite a set of problems:
Nearby residents are often against it, sometimes enough to raise a legal challenge.
Facilities have to be provided. Most notably portable toilets. But there’s other logistical challenges. For example, in Luckenbach’s case, the town’s electrical system had to be upgraded before it could handle the demands that would be put on it. And, oh yeah, you have to build a stage, too.
You have parking and traffic issues to deal with. Then there’s the matter of insurance. And that’s just off the top of my head. There’s more. Much, much more.
But Willie has never really let any of that stand in his way. Yes, the picnic has been held in stadiums and amphitheaters, but it has made its legend as a party in a pasture.
The real change came in 1999, when the Texas Mass Gatherings Act was amended. Previously any mass gathering lasting 12 or more hours required a permit from the county. This is why during the Luckenbach picnics, the plug was pulled at the 12-hour mark, even if Willie hadn’t gotten very far into his set.
But the 1999 revision said that events lasting 5 or more hours needed a permit. This led to the 2000 picnic being held at Southpark Meadows (which was already zoned for such gatherings and didn’t require a permit) and, ultimately, the cancellation of the picnics in 2001 and 2002.
So why not get a permit? They did in 2002 for a picnic in Luckenbach, but when the Gillespie County judge made it clear that he wasn’t in favor of the picnic and he reserved the right to revoke the permit at any time, Willie deemed it was too big a financial risk to go ahead. And you can’t blame him: Why go through all the expense of setting everything up when the county judge could call it off the day before?
The picnic did receive a mass gathering permit in 2003 for a show at the new and natural Two River Canyon Amphitheater.
But I’d be willing to bet that’s the last time that happens. For the remaining days of the picnic, I’m guessing it’s stadiums and corporate-owned amphitheaters. There’s too many regulations these days. And shrinking crowds at the picnics make it riskier for promoters to be spending their money on bringing in portable toilets and building stages.
No more rural picnics? In retrospect, it makes that 5-year run at Luckenbach seem like it was pretty magical.
And, who knows? Willie isn’t known for doing what he’s supposed to do.
Maybe he’ll surprise us next year.
(And don’t get me wrong … I’ll be first in line outside the gates of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on the morning of July 4.)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: By Dave Thomas
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By Winchester
April 8, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
Dripping Springs was a parking nightmare. Gonzales was just a nightmare.
By David Thornton
April 7, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
Oh boy i kind of remember the "Willie picnic". what a blast three days of total FUN!!!