Old Mill free-concert area closure sparks reaction

Judy Winstead’s been enjoying the music at Bend’s Les Schwab Amphitheater for seven years.

But most of the time, she’s sitting across the river on a grassy patch.

“It’s a good way to share the music with the grandkids,” Winstead explained Monday.

Now that free access she and many others use is being restricted during big ticketed concerts, starting with Sunday night’s Michael Franti concert.

“There were a lot of people who were upset the path was closed and wanted to be able to continue through, and so we are looking at that,” Marney Smith, manager of the amphitheater, said Monday.

The reason for the change: Artists can see people sitting on the grass, when they could have been paying for a ticket.

“When the industry starts to say, ‘We aren’t going to come here any more because we can see these people and it’s an issue for us,’ we have to do something about it,” Smith said.

But Winstead thinks the people sitting across the river aren’t potential ticket-buyers.

“I don’t think people sitting over here would be over there, because they are sitting over here for a reason,” she said.

Whether that’s for financial reasons, or just to play with the grandkids, the artists aren’t happy. And if they aren’t happy, they don’t come to Bend.

“We need to prove that we are a place, a viable stop where they can come to support their career and play to a great crowd,” Smith said.

Winstead has questions.

“I want to know whose rule is it? And how are they going to stop you?”

The Old Mill says keeping people off the area during the shows is legal because they own it.

“A lot of people don’t realize that the Old Mill is private property, so that makes it pretty simple,” Smith said.

Smith told me they won’t stop people from floating the river during the shows. And they will have security personnel at every access point to the area to stop people from going through.

Winstead says she’s not buying it: “It left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.”

Smith said, “It stings a little bit, but we’re hoping people realize this is what we have to do to keep a music venue here.”

It’s also provoked a lot of online discussion at KTVZ.COM (see the related story from Friday) and is the topic of our latest online poll. You can cast your vote on our home page, about halfway down the right side.