Suds on the Shore Ain't from Soap

[XLFD]

The 2013 version of Suds on the Shore, a beer and wine sampling that takes place in Ludington City Park, was held this Saturday August 17 between the hours of 1 PM and 7 PM.  From their Facebook site, it was an unqualified success, with much more visits than they had anticipated. 

 

 

The estimates of the Suds on the Shore Committee was that they had about 1600 to 1700 attendees for those six hours on Saturday, up from the approximately 900 from last years event, and there doesn't seem to be any negative comments from those in attendance.  The event is there to make money for the United Way, and this is their fourth year.  One would believe they had every thing covered, and this cute dumpster shot of Mason County Commissioner Curt Vanderwall says they definitely had the clean-up of this event under control:

 

 

"Leave it cleaner than we found it." is a nice motto to have, and the overflowing dumpster shows they made an effort to do so.  But this event was over on Saturday at 7 PM, and whereas Curt had gotten the trash picked up successfully, the images on Sunday night, more than 24 hours after the Suds on the Shore 2013 was history has me wondering about their attention to that motto.  Consider this view from the south of Ludington Avenue looking north:

 

 

More than a day after its closure, white fencing with blue "Pure Ludington" written across it is still in place delineating the extent of the sudfest on its southern border.  Internal access to over half of the park is blocked off totally from this side.  You will notice at the far left, that even the sidewalk along the street is blocked by fence.  That was unsafe and wasn't necessary on the day of the event, it forced people into the street after the event was a day in the past (note:  during the event the street was blocked).  To the north, we have a similar situation:

 

 

With the exception that the sidewalk is left unblocked.  An access point to the greater part of the park exists here on the right, but you can make out some internal fencing to the left and a bunch of picnic tables in a group.  To the west we see:

 

 

Again, the whole west side of the park beyond the center fountain is blocked from entrance by "Pure Ludington" fencing.  If you came from this side and wanted to enjoy the park today, you'd be cheated out of 60% of it, and all because the Sudsers 'left it cleaner than when they found it'.  Unfair, they may say, because you can go around those barriers and enter from the less secure east, and play within the natural fences, crowded picnic tables, and trash cans.  But Suds on the Shore also featured music and thus they had the band shell blocked off on Saturday-- and all of Sunday.  Here's a view from the south followed by a view from the north of that half block:

 

 

The fences effectively block off the north and south side from the public, and the dumpster was heaped so much that it couldn't close, but squirrels, seagulls, and Saturday (and Sunday) night raccoons may get flummoxed by all the fencing left up to get to the garbage.  And after all, someone threw away a perfectly good county commissioner.

 

 

So, for one nice summer Saturday evening, and all of a beautiful Sunday, we had the Ludington City Park looking pretty sad and being effectively unavailable to the Ludington public and their guests.  And all because a recurring event could not effectively clean up after themselves.  This is violative of our City' stated purpose for park regulations, so that:  "all residents and their guests may enjoy and make use of such parks, beaches and recreational areas".  This is not the first time our parks have been left unusable on Sundays and parts of Saturday and Monday, because fences, trash, and benches were left around in the usable areas of the facility.

 

If we are to have our DPW be responsible for cleaning up after these Friday and Saturday events during the tourist season, we need to make sure that some have weekends on their schedules, and actually work-- I seen a DPW truck down by the beach on Sunday looking idle.  Leaving this stuff up for two days at least is bad for tourism and our image.  

[Willy]

Not to mention the ordinance violation of feeding the gulls and other critters by having the top of the dumpster left open.

[AQUAMAN]

I and two other friends last year went to this event, windy day, no fishing, and found that a $25 admission fee was applicable to enter. This is to taste in dixie cups some of the adult beverages. If you wanted a full bottle or can, prices prevailed at market, or higher. We declined as $75 was a bit over our anticipated budget for such an event. Good luck to them though, as I see some will pay anything to attend such an event.

[XLFD]

I don't drink very often, but when I do I can buy a lot more beer than I can consume for under $25.  Heck, anyone in my neck of the woods in Ludington can throw their own wine tasting party for under $25 by getting this and inviting the block over:

 

[AQUAMAN]

That's just the exact point X. I think this event kinda dovetails with the earlier art show we had in July. It's more for the upper-crust public that want to taste various expensive wines and other adult beverages, not the common man that takes a drink for pleasure with friends. I would rather expect this event to be in a high income type area, not Ludington. Another tourist trap event that doesn't impress nor attract the locals here imho.