Laid-back Carbondale summers make warm bodies itch to share the evening breeze with each other, sip a cool one in the grass and jam to fine music.
The Sunset Concert Series has always served as the perfect elixir.
For the last 24 years, everyone in the community, from grandparents to students, has come to Turley Park or Shryock Auditorium to attend the most well-loved events of SIU summer. The concerts have probably done more for summer enrollment numbers than a whole slew of marketing wizards could.
Tradition is not a strong enough word to describe the Sunset Concerts Series. This harmonious unifier of the University and the community has achieved a town-gown compatibility that no other festivity can claim.
After only 10 months in office, SIUC Chancellor Walter Wendler wants to tamper with the successful and overwhelmingly positive summer culture.
After complaints by residents surrounding Turley Park, Wendler decided he would ask the Carbondale City Council to nix alcohol at Turley's three concerts, but not at Shyrock, where the other half of the concert series occurs. Indications from the council, who will listen to Wendler's point of view tonight at their biweekly meeting, point to the promising fact that alcohol will remain a part of the affairs' atmosphere.
Like so many of the chancellor's other initiatives, such as whacking down the campus speed limit, Wendler is suffering from a reactionary syndrome. Whenever the complaints roll in, he has set an organizational trend of acting too fast without conducting enough research.
Wendler told the Daily Egyptian editorial board that he would possibly pull University funds from the Sunset Concerts at Turley if the city allows alcohol. Wendler cites the few negative incidents, such as last year's stabbing, and minor problems produced by the concerts as fueling his concern. But we question how he can determine the severity of the problem when he has never even attended a Sunset Concert.
Residents around Turley have valid problems with the summer celebration, and we hear them loud and clear. Public urination, littering and drunken antics are not something citizens should have to deal with in their own backyards. The city should do a few simple things to alleviate the burden.
First, a change of venue is not out of the question. Some original Sunset Concerts took place in Evergreen Park, an area not dripping with homes and picket fences. It is also closely located to the Arena parking lot, offering ample parking space.
Adding more portable toilets would be a welcome change to the line-waiting that can mark whole sets of the outdoor melodies, and would do a lot to combat the public urination problem.
A few more police officers on the scene to better patrol even outer perimeters would discourage rare scuffles, like the knifing incident that occurred just blocks from a Turley concert last summer. Providing even more trash cans might nudge attendees to throw waste where it belongs.
These minor changes could simply alleviate the problems without meddling with an integral and much-loved aspect of Carbondale culture.
It's clear that Wendler is personally opposed to alcohol; any event on campus he orchestrates is utterly without a drop. A fair assumption is that prohibition at Shryock will follow. While we appreciate having a chancellor with fierce moral resolve, Wendler needs to learn when to leave personal preferences out of public life.
SIUC's image problem plays a huge role in this decision; Wendler believes a University-sponsored public event allowing alcohol further exacerbates SIUC's party-school perception.
If Wendler attended a concert, he would see that words like "unruly" and "party" do not describe the relaxed, barbecue feel that keeps parents bringing their children back year after year.
Wendler is a man who acts on his personal convictions, and he won't be swayed unless there are hard facts to prove he is wrong. The Daily Egyptian respects that, so Mr. Chancellor, here are the facts.
Each Sunset Concert attracts about 2,500 people. When alcohol was stripped from Turley concerts in the mid-1980s, the attendance dwindled to 800 for all four Turley concerts of that summer combined.
If the chancellor plugs the tap, the Sunset Concerts will dry up. And ironically, he would effectively kill one of the remaining positive images in the minds of residents and students alike.
The Daily Egyptian believes our warm-weather jewel should continue to sparkle with the features that have placed the Sunset Concerts deep into the community heart: good music, good friends and yes, good drink.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
