After much excitement and anticipation, Party in the Park 2010 was canceled due to the severe rain and thunderstorms that hit the Tampa Bay area last Sunday evening. Since the end of the semester is here, another concert cannot be rescheduled.
Katie Kerins, music chair for Student Productions, began planning the concert upon her arrival after summer break. Kerins reserved Plant Park for the weekend of April 25, which she said was the only weekend that was available.
Besides the fact that the school year is drawing to a close, Slightly Stoopid has its own schedule to keep up with.
Kerins said it just wasn’t possible to arrange for another show this year.
“I was planning this since the first week we got back to school, so it was really hard to have it not work out,” Kerins said.
On the morning of the concert, Kerins checked the weather forecast and did not expect a storm of such magnitude.
“At 8 a.m. when we checked the weather, there was like a 40 percent chance of rain that night and it didn’t say anything about severe storms, so we took the precautions in case of the rain,” said Kerins.
Concert organizers had tarps and tents readily available.
Media Services and Student Productions did have a backup plan established in case a situation arose. Had the event been moved elsewhere, the secondary location was to be the Martinez Sports Center. However, Rachel Rollo, coordinator of Student Programs and Events explained that setting up for the concert in a different location needed to begin at 8 a.m. on Sunday at the earliest.
“If we knew that there were gonna be storms that severe in advanced, we would’ve had to make the changes long before Sunday,” Rollo said.
Kerins said that Student Productions would be willing to schedule 20/20 Boulevard and Daniel B. Marshall, the bands that were slated to open for Slightly Stoopid, for a performance at the beginning of next school year.
“Definitely the very beginning of next year. I would love to have them at one of our events that we already have planned because I definitely think that they should get that opportunity,” said Kerins.
Students began having their cards swiped when the park opened at 7 p.m. on Sunday. According to Rollo, they stopped letting people in at 7:18 p.m. and told people to go to Plant Hall.
With hundreds of students waiting in Plant Hall for a decision to be made, official word was received at approximately 7:45 p.m. that the concert had been canceled.
“We were all checking our phones, checking the weather, seeing if it looked like it was going to just move quickly and go over us or if it was going to stay,” Rollo said.
Rollo also said that the rain was not the issue when deciding whether or not to cancel the show, but it was the lightning that struck over the UT campus that was important.
“We wouldn’t have had to kick people out if it was just rain,” Rollo said. “It was a rain or shine show.”
Along with the time invested by Kerins and the members of Student Productions, a portion of tuition fees went towards staging the event.
“I know people are gonna be concerned about it, but we really didn’t have a choice,” said Kerins.
Though the bands were all paid for their time, Kerins said that Student Productions did save money by not having to keep security and EMTs on the clock any longer. She said that as far as money not being wasted, there was nothing more that the concert staff could have done.
Kerins acknowledged how upset students must be over the cancellation. Additionally, she said that with all of the time spent by Student Productions and the concert board to make the event possible, it is just as disappointing for them to see Party in the Park 2010 be canceled almost immediately after it got underway.
“After setting up all day and seeing it come together, we were so excited,” said Kerins. “Then when it started down-pouring like that, it was really upsetting.”
Likewise, Rollo expressed how much time and effort everybody put into making the Spring Concert come to fruition.
“I think that what people may not understand is how the Student Productions board and concert board are probably 100 times even more disappointed than the rest of the student body,” said Rollo. “It was not a decision that was easy to make, nor one that we wanted to make.”
Kerins wanted the student body to know that Slightly Stoopid was excited to play for their UT audience, and were also unhappy at the cancellation of the show.
“They were really, really looking forward to playing and so I think that’s something that everybody should know, is that they were upset that we had to cancel it too,” Kerins said.
Charlie Hambos also contributed to this report.
wow hp that comment is positively rude. and “no one even wanted slightly stoopid to come here”? then explain why so many people were waiting to see them, including me, and why so many people were disappointed. SP did a good job with the event and it would have been great had it not been horrible weather.
Being a four student, this concert in the park with slightly stoopid would have been sick! I was one of the crazy people in plant waiting for the awfull news. There is no question a plan b was not established for the rain. This is florida, even if the weather says there is no rain, you plan for rain. Martinez center was full of chairs and tables for vendors, from the athletic banquet and could have been used for the show. The band was down to play for the students, some amps and mics was all you needed to have a good time. It wouldn’t have been as fun as the park with shiny skies, but it would have been better than nothing.
yeah i looked at the precipitation % that morning at around 10am and it said 60% so usually when its over 50%, especially in tampa, that means its going to rain. And by the look of the none blue sky out that day, that kind of gave it away
Hp, if you have that much of an issue with the way the concert was planned (despite how little you know about the planning and preparations that were made the day of and the entire year) maybe you should actually interview for the board next year to get a taste of the work first hand.
I wanted Slightly Stoopid to come here…. pretty sure the few hundred people who were lined up at 7 wanted them to come too….concert board did a great job with this show, it sucks that it didnt work out
Despite the disappointment many UT students felt over the cancellation of the Slightly Stoopid concert, Katie and SP did a great job coordinating with vendors and setting up a cohesive itinerary.
No one knows what the weather is going to be like tomorrow or the day after, we can only make a close guess or forecast as to what it may be. Katie and SP did the best to their ability to foretell the FUTURE, but no one truly knew thunder and lightning were to be expected. Neither did anyone know the magnitude of the storm. Remember, Tampa is the lightning capital of the nation.
Katie and concert board worked so hard to plan this all year.
If you read the article it says that there WAS a back-up plan… which was Martinez.
Judging by the reports in the morning, the rain percentage was low, so they took the chance and set up outside considering the stage, lights, equipment had already been ordered. Not to mention numerous vendors were coming to set up outside. If they had set up in Martinez and it HADN’t rained, I’m sure you’d be complaining, too.
It’s very unfortunate that the show had to be canceled, but that was a decision that HAD to be made for the safety of the students and the band.
Personally, I am extremely proud of all of concert board for there efforts all year round, and for working EXTREMELY hard on April 26th by sticking around and packing everything up in the pouring rain.
I’m sure all of the students are very disappointed, but the time and energy put into planning and setting up for that day should not go unnoticed.
You all did a phenomenal job:-)
This is positively ridiculous that there was no backup plan hello we live in the lightening capital of the world hint hint next time there’s a chance a rain there is a good chance of lightening. Can the UT students have the $42,000+ that you just wasted. The best part is that no one even wanted Slightly Stoopid to come here!
To Katie + SP,
You all did a great job regardless! Looking forward to next year!