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The city will be hosting a meeting Thursday morning for Asbury business owners to discuss continuing the Bamboozle concert festival next year with promoter LiveNation.

“The purpose is to have a conversation about moving forward,” said Tom Gilmour, the city’s director of commerce and development. “LiveNation would like to do a concert again in the city, and I think the city wants to do a concert with LIveNation again. So we went to begin a discussion of how we can make this work better for city businesses.”

Many businesses in the downtown said they were harmed by Bamboozle. Following the advice of government officials, the public avoided Asbury Park during the festival weekend, and the downtown business district was unusually quiet during Bamboozle. Meanwhile, concert-goers were not allowed to leave and reenter the festival grounds on the beachfront. So they stayed inside and did not patronize Asbury businesses as much as many had hoped.

The meeting for businesses will be in the council chambers in city hall at 8:00 a.m., Gilmour said. Expected to be in attendance will be city manager Terry Reidy and Scott O’Donnell, LiveNation’s executive director of festivals and programs, he said.

An estimated 90,000 attended the three-day Bamboozle festival last month. The city will receive a fee for $200,000 with LiveNation covering all expenses associated with the event. The city was due additional monies if ticket sales hit a certain number, but that did not happen this year, according to Reidy. Click here for a Sun story yesterday on the $200,000 payment being the total the city will receive in profit from the festival.

(Photo courtesy of Gisela Rochelle.)

 

 

 

 

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