The last Orange Blossom Festival?

Ken's band, "The Klones", have been playing at Riverside's annual Orange Blossom Festival for years. I've played with them every year for the last 3 years. Two years ago, it rained and the turnout was quite small. We played on the "Budweiser Stage," a large portable stage set up at the corner of 7th and Market. It had a large PA system, with two sound men, one for the stage monitors and one for the front of house (FOH) sound. They also provided backline guitar and bass amps, and direct inputs (DI) for the keyboards. It was fun to play there, with all the trappings of a pro show. The sound was great, and we rocked out.

The next year was hot, with a big turnout, and all the trappings again. We rocked again; quite fun.

This year they moved all the "classic rock" bands to the smaller "Microbrew Stage" at the corner of Fifth and Main, right in front of that great soul food BBQ restaurant. At first I was disappointed with the smaller stage, but it turned out to be a boon. Instead of looking down at the audience from a 9-foot height, the 3-foot stage allowed us easier and better interaction with the audience. Although predictions were for rain by the time we started, it was a really nice day and the weather held until hours later. As usual, we rocked the crowd, and had great interactions. Tim (bass), Ricky (lead guitar) and Ken (my brother, mostly rhythm guitar) were all wireless, and the low stage allowed them to jump down and play from within the audience. Ken went inside the BBQ and played (to the staff's delight), and Tim rode a mechanical bull across the street while we played the closing song, "Born To Be Wild." Then the audience started shouting for more, and we came back for two encores! Very nice. We only had one soundman at the stage, but the PA was high quality, and the soundman did a great job. I had a blast. I look forward to this gig every year; the Klones are at home with folks who really appreciate them, and really play their best, and having professional sound controls the levels so that, even though they are loud, they are well-mixed.

So I was disappointed to hear that the Riverside City Council is expected to vote to discontinue the Orange Blossom Festival. You can read more about it here (while the PE has it up, anyway). A couple of the council members think it attracts the wrong element, and there were a few incidents, mostly involving drunks and officials. None of them sounded too serious to me, though. I've never seen any real problems while I've been there, but I didn't spend a lot of time away from the stages, and I have never been there after sundown. Nevertheless, I would expect some incidents in a festival like this. Santa Rosa hosted the Sonoma County Fair, with plenty of "incidents" each year, but the show is generally considered to be a net plus for the community, and I don't think anyone ever seriously considered shutting it down. I think Riverside needs to deal with its problems and keep this little bit of character that remains for this community. The article makes it sound almost certain that they'll delete the Festival, but I really hope they don't. (Interestingly, the PE invited comments on serving beer at the OBF, and the comments were almost unanimously against it).