Pride, Hullabaloo booted from Wheeler Park to protect the grass

The art can stay, but the large parties have to go.

After this summer, there will be no more revelers treading on the grass at Wheeler Park during multi-day festivals. The city of Flagstaff believes the downtown lawn cant handle the abuse, and it will close most of Wheeler Park for July and August this year to replant sod.

That park was not designed as an event facility, and thats why we have issues with the number of people in there, and we have turf damage, said City of Flagstaff Parks Manager Steve Zimmerman. We dont have this going on at any of our other parks.

Zimmerman said that maintenance staff realized they werent giving the grass three weeks of rest between multi-day events, as specified in the parks management plan. And his office has the power to deny permits for maintenance reasons, he said.

City officials decided to approach Pride in the Pines and Hullabaloo to tell them they could either move their festivals this year or move them next year. But the events with more seniority and less traffic will be allowed to stay. That includes Art in the Park on Labor Day and the Fourth of July, as well as other one-day events.

Whats going to happen is after this season, theyre doing this major rework of Wheeler because all the grass is dying, said City of Flagstaff Public Works Section Head Mike OConnor.

He added that Wheeler Park will be closed for maintenance from July 7 to Aug. 29. During that time, a large section of grass will be fenced and off-limits to everyone, including all the other weekend events planned throughout the summer. OConnor said the replanting was happening during those months to take advantage of Flagstaffs wet season.

My goal is to maintain the turf in that park, Zimmerman said. For some of these multi-day events, Ive got to shut off the water. It causes damage to the park. In trying to get that park to look better, we decided to ask two groups to leave and in that process, knowing we cant just tell them Get out of here, we did give them some alternative sites.

WHEELER PARK COSTLY

But Kathryn Jim, president of Northern Arizona Pride Association, said Pride in the Pines was ready to move anyway and made the choice themselves, approaching the city first they werent pushed out. Pride took a big hit on last years festival and was debating whether they would continue their event into its 18th year.

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Pride, Hullabaloo booted from Wheeler Park to protect the grass