LOCAL NEWS — It seems to be a complete misunderstanding.
On Monday night, Metro Council member Wayne Hawkins appeared before the Metro Council on behalf of the Whiskey Runners Car Club, the organization behind Lynchurg’s fall car show, Cruisin’ in the Hollow. Why? The organizers were concerned that their event, which traditionally happens on the first weekend in October, would conflict with the Lynchburg Music Fest’s new date, October 2-3. Both Hawkins and Whiskey Runners Car Club member Wayne Cook, who also appeared before the Metro Council, were both working from the assumption that the Lynchburg Music Fest intends to hold it’s 2020 event in Wiseman Park.
That’s not true, according to Igniter Productions Jonny Hill, who The Lynchburg Times spoke with on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m very aware of the Whiskey Runner’s car show,” Hill said. “In fact, I’ve attended it many times and even entered my 51 GMC a couple of times. By no means would we every step on the toes of an existing event.”
At Monday nights meeting, Cook seemed confident.
“They are advertising right now on The Duck,” Cook exclaimed to Mayor Lewis as she tried to set his mind at ease by explaining that no one from Igniter had appeared before her to ask permission to use the park for this year’s event. “They are saying it right now on the radio,” Cook argued. “You can buy tickets. You can look it up on your phone.”
While it is true that tickets are now on sale for the October event, and they are indeed advertising on 93.9 The Duck, the verbiage on all of the above does not list Wiseman Park as the location of the 2020 event. The carefully-crafted wording stops short of naming the park the 2020 venue and simply talks about the park as the location of the inaugural event.
“The inaugural Lynchburg Music Fest, was a two-day music and camping festival featuring dozens of country and bluegrass bands on three stages in beautiful Wiseman Park in historic Lynchburg,” the LMF website and Facebook page states.
Igniter announced Kip Moore as Friday night’s headliner last Tuesday. In a press release, they stated that the “second annual Lynchburg Music Fest will take place on October 2 and 3, in a new venue in Lynchburg.”
Hill says that they are still working on details and contracts and for that reason his organization isn’t prepared to announce the new venue just yet but he hopes to make the announcement sometime in April.
For more information about the festival, visit their website or Facebook page. •
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