Eagle Pass City Council Approves Change of Venue for South 57 Music Fest Due to Operation Lone Star
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2024
The City of Eagle Pass, Texas City Council approved on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at a special meeting by a split vote of 3-2 to change the venue of the upcoming South 57 Music Fest just 45 days from the scheduled event of April 5-7, 2024 at Shelby Park to the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe’s Lucky Eagle Casino due to the controversial unilateral takeover of Shelby Park by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his Operation Lone Star boondoggle.
Agenda Item No. 13 in the special meeting of February 20, 2024 called for an Executive Session discussion regarding the “contract negotiations for the Solar Eclipse events and possible action in Open Session regarding the same.”
Upon returning from Executive Session at 9:26 p.m., Mayor Pro-Tem William “Billy” Davis made a motion to “authorize the City Manager and his designees to enter into a local governmental agreement with the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas for the 57 South Music Festival and to negotiate with artists and event organizers and bring back to City Council for final approval. Councilman Elias Diaz seconded the motion and the City Council voted 3-2 to approve the motion with Davis, Diaz, and Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr. in favor while Councilmembers Monica J. Cruz and Mario E. Garcia voting against.
Since January 10, 2024 when Governor Greg Abbott unilaterally took complete control and custody of the City-owned public park, Shelby Park, under a declaration of emergency for exclusive use of his controversial $10.5 billion taxpayer funded Operation Lone Star, the venue site of the historic South 57 Music Festival-Shelby Park-was jeopardized due to the Texas Department of Military and the Texas Department of Public Safety seizure of the public park.
Initially, City officials suggested that the multi-million South 57 Music Festival would be allowed by Governor Abbott to be held at Shelby Park during April 5-7, 2024, but later changed to having it at the Municipal Golf Course. However, the large crowds and heavy traffic expected at the music festival would easily tear and destroy the manicured greens of the golf course. Thus, with only 45 days before the scheduled three day music festival, the City Council and City Administration under Interim City Manager Ivan Morua are reversing their decision to host the multi-million dollar music festival at the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, eight miles outside the City limits.
City Administration and staff are frantically seeking a replacement venue site for the South 57 Music Festival since the City of Eagle Pass has advanced significant monies to the event coordinator and music bands and artists to date. The City of Eagle Pass could potentially lose millions of dollars in the event that the South 57 Music Festival is cancelled and/or is a failure as the City has already paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in advanced fees and payments.
Reportedly, advance ticket sales to the star-studded South 57 Music Festival are extremely low. The City Administration and City Council are worried that the once highly-acclaimed music festival might be a total flop, costing the City coffers millions of dollars and a flurry of lawsuits.
City taxpayers question why did the City of Eagle Pass decide to host and sponsor a three day music festival immediately before the scheduled April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse in Eagle Pass, Texas. Taxpayers do not want to be left holding the bag of millions of losses and a flurry of lawsuits in the event the music festival is not held or a failure. Taxpayers demand accountability from the City Council on the current state of affairs of the fledgling music festival. Taxpayers hope of the State of Texas reimbursing them for any losses of the music festival caused by Operation Lone Star’s changing the venue site are delusional.
