Losing Grizzly Fest and Fresno FC hurts the city. Leaders, residents share the blame
One signature event or sports team leaving town is a bummer. Two is a disaster. Three in three months? That’s a pattern of futility that cannot, should not be ignored.
The latest drop in the fail bucket: Last week’s announcement that Grizzly Fest was going on hiatus in 2020.
Before that, it was the California Food Expo shutting off the burners following a near decade-long run.
And before that, it was the sudden demise of Fresno FC, which left a soccer ball-sized hole in the region’s sports culture.
Contrary to what you might read on social media, Fresno can have nice things. Why can’t we seem to keep them around?
It’s a question that needs to be asked. Not just of our leaders — which is easy to do — but also of ourselves.
When an annual event announces it is going dark for a year, that deflating sound you hear is typically a death knell. Grizzly Fest, at least, has a track record of hibernation. After debuting in 2012, the music festival took two years off before returning in 2015.
So hope remains that organizer Aren Hekimian will resurrect Grizzly Fest in 2021. That is, if Hekimian and the city can forge an agreement for the use of Woodward Park.
When the Grizzly Fest news broke, it was generally assumed Councilmember Garry Bredefeld was the culprit.
After all, Bredefeld raised a stink about Snoop Dogg in 2018 (after being silent about all the country music concerts held in his district) as well as Woodward Park’s suitability for such an event.
While Bredefeld makes for an easy villain, he only wishes he had that kind of clout. Bredefeld’s recent effort to limit noise levels at Woodward Park landed with such a thud the sound could be heard outside the council chambers.
This was more about Hekimian and city staff, under the direction of Mayor Lee Brand, being unable to negotiate a multiyear deal that would give the organizer much-needed security.
Why couldn’t they? I can’t say for certain. But unless you’re one of those sticks-in-the-mud who enjoys the benefits of living near a regional park but can’t handle any of the drawbacks, we’re all losers. Even those of us who stay home.
‘Fresno needs to reconcile with itself’
“At some point, Fresno needs to reconcile a few things with itself — and this ongoing saga shows it,” local event organizer (and ex-Bee colleague) Mike Osegueda wrote on Facebook.
“If we want to be a big, thriving city, we can’t complain about the volume at a music festival and our city leaders can’t bury their heads in the sand when it’s time to come to grips with the fact that we’re a growing metropolis.”
While the Grizzly Fest hiatus caught many off guard, the dissolving of the California Food Expo registered as a shocker.
For nine years, the event showcased hundreds of the top food and wine producers from the central San Joaquin Valley and state and connected them with major retailers like Costco.
The event made perfect sense in downtown Fresno and was a major source of pride. Now it’s gone (organizers cited “financial and organizational constraints”) and we’re left scratching our heads.
The demise of the Fresno Foxes elicited similar feelings. In July 2017, the USL Championship soccer club kicked off to great fanfare and predictions of longevity. (Whoops.)
Instead, team owner Ray Beshoff slinked out of town after being unable to secure a stadium deal — even though he was willing to put up millions of his own money for land and construction costs.
Big-city problems, few of the benefits
There are several sides and nuances to this story. What’s indisputable is Beshoff underestimated not just how difficult it is to get things done in Fresno but also how far city leaders would bend to keep the team from moving.
With an estimated population of 527,000, Fresno is California’s fifth-largest city. Problem is, we have big-city problems (i.e. homelessness, crime and poor air quality) without many of the big-city benefits (i.e. culture and a thriving downtown).
Big cities do more than fund a police force or roll out the red carpet for warehouses and distribution centers in the name of jobs. They also make life more livable for their residents. Events like Grizzly Fest and the California Food Expo and sports teams like the Foxes are key ingredients in that stew, on top of an already sore subject like parks.
Sure, we must elect leaders with larger visions of what this city is and can be. That goes without saying. But the onus also falls on its citizens to support events and institutions that become part of our community fabric.
The Fresno Grizzlies, Fresno Greek Fest, Fresno Philharmonic, California Classic Weekend, Fresno Street Eats and the like — none of them exist unless we assist them with our hearts and wallets. Don’t be one of those people who complains “There’s nothing to do in Fresno” and then makes it a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Fresno can have nice things. Unfortunately, that’s the easy part. As recent months show, keeping them around is a lot more challenging.
