Missoula Has Strong Opinions on Potential Music Festival Plans

The Missoulian recently reported on plans for a potential music festival at Playfair Park.

The festival is organized by Always On LLC, a company owned by Scott Osburn, a University of Montana graduate. The festival will feature easy listening and alternative music and is expected to attract 10,000 - 20,000 people, according to the Missoulian.  So far, the proposal has been met with a mix of optimism and concern.

Given the conversation around town the proposal has sparked, we thought we'd reach out to the music lovers of Missoula, the audiences that listen to our radio stations, to see how they felt about the festival. We posed the following question on our social media pages:

Yes 83% 

No 17% 

• "dooo it"
• “Ask yourself the question, If you lived in that neighborhood would you be in favor?”  
• "Do it!!!"
• “I don’t even live on that side of town and can see the disaster written on the wall” 

Yes 60% 

No 40% 

One comment echoed the sentiment that some Missoulians feel the conversation hasn’t been transparent enough. The article in the Missoulian noted, “City Council members Mirtha Becerra and Kristen Jordan both expressed serious concern over the loack of community engagement so far...”  

Yes 0%

No 100% 

• “I’m curious as to why this wasn’t proposed for Fort Missoula Park. Wasn’t the whole point of redoing and upgrading Fort Missoula Park to create a venue to facilitate large gatherings for regional sporting events, etc.?” 
• “It's a horrendously stupid, idiotic idea.” 

Listener Suggested Alternative Locations 

• Missoula Fairgrounds 
• Fort Missoula  
• Washington Grizzly Stadium 
• Ogren Field 

Yes 25% 

No 75% 

• “...was there anything learned after having a music show at the ballpark so it doesn’t happen elsewhere around town? the field had to be redone and debris cleaned up and having to go to court after the show. playfair park was meant for families to enjoy doing sports and other outdoor activities.” 

Yes 33% 

No 67% 

“I vote No to the area they want to hold it.” 

Yes 83% 

No 17% 

• “I’m always down for music but not a fan of that location. Logistically would be a bit of a nightmare getting trucks, rigs, buses so on and so forth into that area to get set up. And then there is the concern of parking and festivalgoers. Feel like they should attempt to move that to somewhere like the fairgrounds” 
• "Yes!"
• "Let's rock!"
• "hopefully it's not a reggae festival lol!!"