BOISE, Idaho — Heading into the 2023 edition of the Treefort Music Festival, there were community questions about how the high traffic event would impact the festival’s new home at Julia Davis Park.
“Nothing pleases a park and recreation director in any community in the country more than to see their facilities and parks get used. That's the most important. Build a park and nobody comes is probably not a good thing,” said Boise Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway.
It’s that spirit from Holloway that encourages big events in Boise’s beautiful parks. And what better super-show idea than to combine Julia Davis Park with Treefort Music Festival.
“It was a great event and it put a lot of money into our economy. And again, that's a big part of Parks and recreation is what can we do to help drive economic impact within our community,” Holloway said.
The word impact though, drew questions. What would a music festival with thousands do to the park? Add in a week straight of cold and wet weather, yeah it took a toll on the park.
We were watching the forecast really close and so were the Treefort organizers as well. But our response to that is rain or shine, this event is going to come off. And so let's make the best of how we can make this event work the best for the people that come here and we'll deal with what the after effects are,” Holloway said.
As you can imagine, the grass in high traffic areas basically turned to mud as Treefort fans danced their way through the park, enjoying live music, shows, and conversations. And guess what the Parks and Rec Director thinks about it:
“That’s what a park is for,” Holloway laughed.
Yet, there is a cost to fix the consequences of fun, one that Treefort organizers are totally onboard with.
“Price tags about $41,000, and it's come solely from the tree for usage in the park. The things that we have to do to bring it back up to where it was before the event occurred,” Holloway said.
Holloway says the entire Treefort team has been great to work with, and Treefort has made sure the park is maintained and brought back to top tier conditions. Already though, the Park is fixing itself. Just look at the grass near the Gene Harris Bandshell.
“Everything you see green here has pretty much popped up since Treefort. So, this is all new. It was pretty much mud. And this is the grass making its way back up through the mud. And again, I think it's the health of the turf that we have in this area that once the once all the foot traffic was off of it and the rain has stopped, all of a sudden you start seeing green start to pop up all over,” Holloway said.
The park has regenerated so well in a short time that the cost of sodding and seeding impacted areas is actually less of a cost than first estimated. Holloway noticed really quickly after the festival; the park seemed to respond well.
“Between that Monday and the following Monday. Julie Davis She's a great park and she started coming back already. We started scene within a couple of days. Grass start popping up through the mud,” Holloway said.
Another interesting factor went into holding Treefort at the park, how would the animals of Zoo Boise respond to live music?
Well, the zoo reviews are in!
“None of our animals experienced any stress or anxiety through that entire five-day period. So, we know now our animals can handle it based on that decibel level restriction. And yet everyone still enjoyed Treefort,” Holloway said.
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