MUNCIE, Ind. — City of Muncie officials say they thought an event at Prairie Creek Reservoir on Sunday of Labor Day weekend was going to be a small, private memorial concert.
A neighbor claims the event was actually an all-day affair that attracted more than 250 people who were not wearing masks or social distancing.
The free concert, lasting from noon to 10:30 p.m., was advertised on social media as "the biggest show" and an "amazing day" "in remembrance of a great man," featuring headliner The Why Store and special guests including Boot Hill Band, Stones Throw and Hired Guns.
City officials say they were under the impression it was going to be a small, private memorial service to be attended by 40 or so friends and family members of the organizer's late brother.
The organizer could not be reached for comment and The Why Store's press contact did not return phone or email messages seeking comment for this article.
Muncie Parks Superintendent Carl Malone referred questions about the concert to Dustin Clark, superintendent of the park at the reservoir.
Clark said he got called to the park on an unrelated matter between campers and when he saw the size of the concert "we asked people to kind of disperse, we required people to get off the roads and move along, go back to their respective camp sites. We kind of controlled the crowd and made sure they were leaving and not coming in."
Clark couldn't say how many were in attendance.
Other city officials said the organizer might have believed he had some sort of approval based on having hosted a memorial event for his brother at the reservoir in 2018 and 2019. Those city officials said the crowd only numbered 150.
Regardless of how many attended, it was a large enough event to have required the organizer to seek a permit and appear before the park board first, which didn't happen.
Gov. Eric Holcomb's Back on Track Indiana Stage 4.5 executive order, which declares that a public health emergency exists throughout the state due to the coronavirus disease outbreak, allows social gatherings of up to 250 people, provided that "social distancing requirements can be achieved and … other sanitation measures are implemented."
Organizers of events exceeding 250 attendees are required to submit to their local health department a written plan outlining the steps proposed to mitigate against the spread of COVID-19, as well as steps proposed for the monitoring and
enforcement of the plan.
Contact Seth Slabaugh at 765 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com
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City caught off guard by concert crowd at Prairie Creek Reservoir - The Star Press
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