[Update; July 20, 2024: In an email circulated to Town Board members July 19, Enfield Supervisor Stephanie Redmond said she’d been informed by the Town’s insurance agent that Daniel Woodring’s nonprofit, SkateGarden Inc, would need to purchase its own event insurance to make the concerts happen.]
by Robert Lynch; July 18, 2024
Best you imagine the Downtown Ithaca CFCU Summer Concert Series, only in miniature.
With visionary concepts largely confined to its creators’ imaginations and with vital logistical and liability questions begging for answers, the Enfield Town Board’s majority Wednesday night gave the tentative go-ahead to the “Enfield SkateGarden Benefit Band Series,” a weekly, Thursday night music event to be held at the under-construction Enfield SkateGarden site across from the Town Hall.
By a four-one vote, the Board approved granting SkateGarden designer Daniel Woodring and Stone Bend Farm events center owner Terry Bloom permission to proceed with their concert plans, conditional upon resolution of “insurance issues.”
As authorized, the weekly events would begin on August 8th and conclude on Halloween. Concerts would initially run from 6 PM until sunset.
Councilperson Robert Lynch (this writer) voted against the Band Series authorization, saying there are “too many unanswered questions.” During earlier discussions, Lynch quoted an unnamed confidante, one he placed outside of Town Government, who’d counseled him that what the Board was approving was “a disaster waiting to happen.”
Also Wednesday, the Town Board unanimously granted approval for Woodring’s latest design for this year’s first phase of SkateGarden. The revised plan would construct a simple “half-pipe” recessed, concrete skateboard ramp at the northern end of the Town-owned property in Enfield Center. Woodring had initially proposed a more elaborate, heart-shape skateboarding bowl, but he cast it aside on grounds it was too complex for beginners to skate.
Although the current design envisions a central amphitheater and seating area, this year’s efforts would confine the amphitheater’s work to its excavation only. Pouring of a concrete pad at the performance area would be left to later project phases, subject to additional available funding.
Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond assured the Board that no Town taxpayer funds have been or will be expended for this year’s construction. A $5,000 Tompkins County Parks grant will fund Phase 1 expenses. The Enfield Highway Department has supplied wood chips and concrete slabs to SkateGarden designers. Woodring informed the Board that “over 150 hours of volunteer labor” has been donated so far.
A Thursday midday walk-through of the size-limited SkateGarden site revealed the prominence of those wood chips. They’re just about everywhere; except, that is, in the place where the skating bowl is planned to be poured. And where the bowl will be poured, slabs of broken concrete proliferate. Woodring will use the boulders somehow in the ramp’s construction. It strains one’s imagination at the moment to envision how a well-attended, well-organized concert could be held at the site.
For one thing, SkateGarden lacks permanent electrical power, and the Town has no plans to install it. And the site has no restrooms. But Woodring thinks he has a work-around. He advised the Board that he may be able to borrow portable toilets used by Trumansburg’s GrassRoots Festival. They’re reportedly kept at the T-Burg Fairgrounds year-round.
Only the thorny issue of liability insurance lingered in Redmond’s mind as the otherwise-supportive Supervisor called for the Band Series’ authorization. In March, Enfield’s municipal insurer had quoted the Supervisor a relatively low, $330 annual rate for insuring a municipally-owned skateboard facility. But the quote never covered liability for music concerts such as those now planned.
Redmond and others in the Board’s majority left the insurance-related contingency of their authorization somewhat open-ended. At one point, the Supervisor said there’d need to be no increase in premiums. At other points in the discussion, she held open the possibility to a minor rise in rates.
Councilperson Lynch dissented on the final vote after first attempting, but failing for lack of a second, to postpone approval for two weeks to enable the Supervisor to get an answer to the insurance question. The Town Board reconvenes July 31 to address unrelated matters.
Terry Bloom’s tie-in with SkateGarden would involve his providing his events company’s food truck to supply pizza for concert-goers. He’d also likely book the musical acts that would provide weekly entertainment.
Asked by Lynch whether the scheduler envisioned booking performers like the “Gunpoets,” a band that frequently performs at the downtown Ithaca concerts, Bloom said a group at that level of popularity would likely stand at the upper-end of what’s likely to play at SkateGarden.
Concert organizers suggested event proceeds would pay the bands that perform. Neither Woodring nor Bloom indicated that Town Government would be charged.
As part of Woodring’s vision, he requested the Town create an “Enfield SkateGarden Committee,” a quasi-public group to manage events and maintain the facility. Woodring would have preferred the Town Board have authorized the committee at Wednesday’s meeting, or at least that it do so before concerts begin. But the Board delayed action, in part, citing the need to get legal advice first.
Questioned by Board members about electrical power, Woodring suggested he’d use a “quiet generator.” Pressed to explain how the event would address safety issues and crowd control, Woodring responded he’d recruit “volunteers.”
The Benefit Band Series’ primary purpose is to raise money to underwrite SkateGarden’s maintenance and its later phases of construction. Little was stated at Wednesday’s meeting about whether the concerts would charge an admission fee. Yet according to a Town official, the small print in one SkateGarden exhibit indicated a $10 per person charge was anticipated. Another flyer noted plans for “50/50 Raffles.” Asked by Lynch whether such activities are legal on Town property, Bloom responded he thought they were.
The broader question of event security became Councilperson Lynch’s central concern. He reminded colleagues that one of the most important principles drilled into newcomers at Town Board training school is that municipal governments have “deep pockets”—namely, the tax base—and that towns become a favored target for trial lawyers.
Others on the Town Board, however, showed limited concern for the liability issue.
There’s also the issue of lighting. Woodring initially said he’d end all concerts at sundown. Then Lynch reminded him that the sun sets as early as 6 PM in October. Organizers immediately pivoted, with Bloom suggesting he could supply solar-powered, pole-mounded lamps to illuminate late-autumn events.
****
The Enfield SkateGarden has proven itself to be an ever-evolving project, seemingly expanding in scope with each Town Board meeting.
When Daniel Woodring first approached the Town Board in March, he’d proposed construction of a modest, plywood-built, skating ramp; perhaps portable and no more than 100 feet long. Then plans changed, the County Parks grant came in, and Woodring’s vision expanded… and expanded yet further. In one respect, maybe the best case—or maybe the worst—it plunged the Town of Enfield into the municipal parks business.
Now, Enfield may find itself in the municipal concert business too. But we must, as a town, recognize our limits: Enfield Center is not the Ithaca Commons. And the Enfield SkateGarden—at least as it looks right now, wood chips and all— is not the Bernie Milton Pavilion.
[Expect additional reporting on this story.]
Writer’s note: Based on legal advice, Enfield Town Board members are directed not to promote Enfield SkateGarden fundraising events, even in their private capacities. Nothing written here should imply such promotion.
###