Film Festival reacts to Cherry Festival effects
TRAVERSE CITY -- It's a staple of the Traverse City Film Festival -- free movies on the big blow-up screen. But this year the open space could sit empty and it's all because of the grass.
With the Cherry Festival packed up and out of here, what's left over from the festival has some concerned about the condition of the grass. Free movies will be shown where the wine pavilion used to be -- which is now covered with dead grass and uneven spots.
Right now, the Film Festival board of directors is still deciding on whether or not they'll be able to show the six free movies at the open space at all. Each night of free movies costs them $20,000.
"The Cherry Festival just moved out of here and this is what's left of our grass," said Film Festival Co-founder John Williams. "The Film Festival volunteers put in about $4,000 worth of seed earlier this year and this is what we have left of it. It's just kind of a big, gray, open field here. If this does not get good enough for everyone to sit on, and it's not an enjoyable place for people to be, I don't know what we'll do. We have no back-up plan."
The Cherry Festival staff and city workers spent today watering and adding seed to damaged areas, and fertilizing the open space, but since some of the waterlines were damaged, the underground sprinkler system isn't working as well as it should be.
Cherry Festival Director Tim Hinkley says they have been walking through and picking up trash all day.
Hinkley says they're depending on the weather. They desperately need it to rain.
When, and if it does, Hinkley says the grass should recondition itself and come back green again. If that doesn't happen by July 27th, the Film Festival board says they don't know what they're going to do. All they can do right now is wait.
