Music festival promoters vow repeat in ’08

No problems at The Downs during three-day show

The weekend-long outdoor rock festival wrapped up at The Downs at Santa Fe on Sunday without incident and with promoters saying they'll be back next year.

“This is like heaven,” Santa Fe native resident Dale Stewart, 54, said as he watched 59-year-old rocker Lonnie Jordan wrap up a set with his band War.

“Awesome. It was wicked… the coolest band I ever saw,” said 9-year-old Dylan Black, whose father, David Black, closed the family's Agapao Coffee and Tea tent for a few minutes so they could see War on stage.

Some 125 security workers, 14 to 24 deputies and 18 round-the-clock emergency medical technicians were among 900 people who worked to make the three-day Santa Fe Muzik Fest a success, according to event producer Shaun Parrish.

Parrish is a real-estate developer and publisher of The Thrifty Nickel, a Northern New Mexico classified-advertising paper. He formed Kaos Productions to put on Muzik Fest.

“Everybody's talking about 2008. People just want to rock-n-roll,” Parrish said.

It was Parrish’s first production, but he joined forces with Allison Shaw, who also produced last May’s second annual Hyperactive Music Fest in Albuquerque. Shaw said the Santa Fe Muzik Festival is larger, and the outdoor venue makes it more of a true festival. However, Shaw said. Santa Fe is lacking in venues for one of its favorite art forms.

“The number one genre listened to in the state is (heavy) metal and rock, but there's not a lot of support for that in Santa Fe,” Shaw said.

Dylan Black's mother, Judy Black, said the Sunday show offered an excellent atmosphere for her three young children. She said she kept the family away from other bands on the first two days.

“It depends on whose playing. Some of the rap bands are so dirty, I wouldn't have my family near them,” Judy Black said.

About 150 bands appeared on five stages during the weekend, and about 40 vendors offered food, art, tattoos and even Harley-Davidsons. Generators provided electricity for the small city erected in the vast grassy infield of the defunct horse track.

Off to one side, a makeshift hospital operated by Rocky Mountain EMT's provided about a dozen beds. EMT David Varela said medics treated no serious injuries, but responded to reports of chest pains, respiratory distress, blisters, a cut foot and several cases of dehydration.

Santa Fe County emergency management coordinator Martin Vigil ordered organizers to clear the fields when high winds and lightning threatened around 4 p.m. Sunday.

An audience that gathered to hear Blues Traveler reluctantly strolled to large tents surrounding the field, a phalanx of security personnel casually closing in at their heels. A half-hour later, as a crowd began to reassemble in front of the main stage, an announcer said the show would continue.

Shaw said 10,000 or so tickets were sold each day, but no events were sold out. Early doubts that some big-name bands might not appear were erased when a couple of bands made radio appearances announcing the show. Ticket sales took off after those radio broadcasts, Shaw said.

Contact David Collins at 986-3064 or dcollins@sfnewmexican.com.