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Brenda
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I had guests here for the festival on Thurs., Fri. & Sat. and then a couple with a toddler checked in yesterday, post-festival for a couple of days. I've had a positive experience with the first local Phish festival and it appears that I'm not alone.
Phish, fans made good impression at Watkins Glen
Event was orderly; clean-up quick[/size]
12:40 AM, Jul. 5, 2011
Written by
Jason Whong

WATKINS GLEN -- Organizers, law enforcement officers and fans agree: The three-day Phish Super Ball IX festival at Watkins Glen International was a huge success.

About 30,000 people attended the festival, said Richard Glasgow, tour manager for Phish.

"We all thought Super Ball IX went really well and we had a great time," Glasgow said by e-mail Monday afternoon.

Glasgow said it was too early to say whether the band will return for a festival next year, but he said the group enjoyed working with the staff at Watkins Glen International.

Sunday night, the band thanked track staff by name from the stage after performing their last set.

Michael Printup, president of Watkins Glen International, said the feeling is mutual.

"It was an honor last night," Printup said Monday. "It was great to hear from them, and we think the same of them, too. Those guys are just unbelievable."

Printup also said it was too early to tell whether another Phish festival is in the track's future, adding that he wants to "find out what the community thinks.

"I've got to round up with the sheriff, the county administrator and the legislators and take a hard look to see if everybody was content," Printup said.

Printup knocked on some doors Monday to ask how neighbors felt about the festival, but nobody was home, he said.

Heather Bryerton, 33, of the Town of Dix, lives on county Route 16, which runs along Watkins Glen International. Bryerton said that, aside from the traffic, she wasn't bothered by the festival.

"It wasn't any different than, say, when NASCAR is in town, or the wine festival."

Bryerton said she enjoyed seeing the Ferris wheel when she drove by the track. She said she could hear the music better from her house Friday than on other nights.

As some campers were reunited with lost keys at the sheriff's station on Bronson Hill Road, Schuyler County Sheriff Bill Yessman said he felt Super Ball IX was successful.

"We didn't have any major incidents," he said. "We didn't have any surprises."

Yessman said traffic was good Monday morning; people began leaving at around 8:30 a.m., and there were backups for about an hour or so, he said.

The sheriff said law enforcement officers made about 34 arrests, which he said was about as many as they would have made at a NASCAR weekend roughly a decade ago. These days, a NASCAR weekend would have about half that number of arrests, he added.

Yessman said a lot of race weekend arrests are for fighting, trespassing and disorderly conduct, while most of the arrests for the festival were drug-related.

Though the area in front of the concert stage was littered with bottles, rubbish and other ephemera, the camping area behind the stage looked orderly, with rubbish and recyclables bagged and piled neatly at sites for pickup.

As workers dismantled the platforms, rigs and walls around the stage, a woman walked on a gravel road carrying a plastic bag of things she'd found.

"I like to collect memorabilia, definitely at the end," said Christine Cortazzo, 38, of Greeley, Pa.

"I scope it out. I try to get some of the cool stuff," said Cortazzo, whose take from the morning's picking included two vinyl records, some signs, an inflatable swimming ring and other finds.

She and her husband, Frank, 38, both had "Phamily" temporary tattoos, indicating they were longtime followers of the band.

"Everything was perfect," Frank Cortazzo said of the weekend.

"The energy and the interaction, everything was just -- from (Chris) Kuroda on the (light) board to Trey (Anastasio) on the stage, to all the Phamily in the center dancing and getting down -- it was just like '98," he said. "It was just like old times."

Other fans said the scenic, rolling hills around the track and the beautiful country they had to drive through to get here were bonuses for the weekend.

On State Route 414, even as people were moving out of the track, handwritten signs beckoned people to shop at Tops Friendly Markets in Watkins Glen.

Donna Grimes, store manager, said the shop saw a boost in sales during the weekend.

"We upped security just in case, not knowing what would happen, but overall, they're the best clientele we've had, compared to NASCAR and other things like that," Grimes said.

Printup also said fans' attitudes contributed to the success of the weekend.

"They were very respectful," he said. "We really appreciate the Phish fans out there."

Yessman described Phish fans as courteous.

"Even today, driving through the campgrounds as people are packing up, they're yelling at us, 'Thank you! Thank you for letting us come here and do our thing.'

"Everybody's waving, with all their fingers."

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article ... |FRONTPAGE
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Matt
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I hear the concert was a success. How busy was it down there this weekend?

I was reading about the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in '73 and how huge that was.... it essentially crammed the population of the greater rochester area into the track venue. That is astounding!

"Many historians claimed that the Watkins Glen event was the largest gathering of people in the history of the United States. In essence, that meant that on July 28, one out of every 350 people living in America at the time was listening to the sounds of rock at the New York state racetrack. Considering that most of those who attended the event hailed from the Northeast, and that the average age of those present was approximately seventeen to twenty-four, close to one out of every three young people from Boston to New York was at the festival." - Excerpt from "AQUARIUS RISING" by Robert Santelli
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I didn't get into the Glen at all over the weekend, but I haven't heard any major complaints from anyone but my sister, who would complain anyway. :lol:

Summer Jam is why there hasn't been a concert at the track since. :lol: My friends who were there, and the locals who were impacted by the event all agree that it was insane! A good friend stopped in last week, and when the subject came up (because of Phish) he said that by the time that he got to Summer Jam his ticket was no longer necessary because there was no longer a gate. I was only twelve, so needless to say I wasn't there and we lived far enough away (Ovid) that we weren't really impacted.
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hobkyl
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Glad to hear it went off without a hitch. Generally speaking events like this usually draw alot of negative criticism. Ive been to a few Phish shows, dont know if I could handle 3 days though.
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Matt
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3 days is like, what, 4 and a half Phish songs?
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Lol pretty much.
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