Wakarusa 2010 comes to an end: After four days on Mulberry Mountain, Wakarusa fans headed home last Sunday.
A day later, 40/29 posted a bizarre report with the headline “Record Number of Arrests Made At Wakarusa Music Festival.” The story included no actual numbers and reported that no arrests were made inside the campgrounds. Huh? “How can you put those arrests in any context without numbers,” asked Ozarks Unbound. “Was one person arrested last year and that number doubled to two this year?” The ADG offered a much less confusing story the next day explaining that those involved were arrested mostly on charges of trespassing and drug or alcohol-related offenses on the roads outside the festival.
As for coverage, Olivia Larson provided us with about 150 photos, DGold had tons of coverage (including bear photos), and the local newspaper sent a couple of folks in to fill the pages of Tuned In.
Business permit proposal headed to council: The city announced in early April that it was considering mandating permits for businesses in order to track economic development and provide data for job growth.
Shortly afterwards, opposition arose from some local business owners who thought the $64 cost was too high. The NWAT’s editors agreed saying that the city should “be careful not to make life more difficult for local business owners.” Others called for more honesty saying that the license was simply a tax and a tool to help enforce sales tax collections.
Ozarks Unbound’s Chris Spencer favors the idea, but couldn’t convince Mid-Riffs’ Josh McGee who still maintains that the economic development argument holds no water.
So where are we now? The fees have been reduced to $35 and the Fayetteville City Council takes up the issue Tuesday night.
World’s largest swim lesson (in a single pool): The Wilson Park pool opened Friday, but most were there to help break the world record for the largest swimming lesson. 250 participants were needed to put Fayetteville in the books. 262 was the official count. Phew.
The event was not related to The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson held earlier this month which aimed to raise awareness of child drownings, the second leading cause of unintended, injury-related death for children ages 1-14.
And now, the rest:
- Citing personal reasons, six-year Fayetteville School Board member Tim Kring won’t be running for re-election. His term ends in September.
- Razorback Relief, the food-packaging event for people in Haiti, was first announced early last week, but got an official press conference Friday morning with ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes making an appearance.
- The 17th annual Solar Splash event was held last week despite cloudy skies. This was the fifth and final time Fayetteville will host the event. KNWA has video.
- A building on the UA campus was evacuated last Friday after a chemical spill. A building downtown was emptied Thursday thanks to some white powder.
- The Arkansas baseball team took on No. 1 Arizona State this weekend in an attempt to get to the College World Series. They lost two in a row ending their season, but kept the Sun Devils up late as both games went into extra innings.
