Camping sought for festival

The Muley Fanatics Foundation, an organization promoting wildlife conservation based in Green River, wants to allow people attending its Mansface Mountain Music Festival the opportunity to camp within city limits.

The Green River City Council has yet to make a decision regarding this request.

Speaking to the Council last week, MFF founder Joshua Coursey said the organization would like the Council to consider opening areas within the city to camping during its music festival, which is scheduled to take place July 19-20 at Expedition Island.

“One of the requests that continues to come up is will there be camping available,” Coursey said. “I don’t know if there is the possibility to seek out a temporary use permit for camping and what that might look like, but I’d like to have that dialog if it’s a possibility.”

City Administrator Reed Clevenger said there was some discussion about camping within the city, saying the city has issued permits in the past, but those requests have been for small groups. He said if the city could determine a number, the city could determine places where camping could make sense. Mayor Pete Rust said he thinks a location could be found that would be feasible for the city.

“I’m quite sure ... the council would be amenable to it,” Rust said.

Coursey said there are two different types of camping people look for, which are RV parking and tent camping. When asked why the city would want to compete against the nearby campgrounds, Coursey said people want to be able to walk from their campsite to the venue at music festivals, saying utilizing the Greenbelt to the island isn’t out of the question.

Also, due to the National High School Finals Rodeo happening during the same time, many campgrounds would be filled.

“To ask someone to the event and then drive back to Rock Springs is probably something that wouldn’t be palatable to those who attend these events,” he said.

Coursey also doesn’t see people wanting to camp in Rock Springs for an event in Green River. He said allowing RVs to park where the Overland Stage Stampede Rodeo parks and directing people to walk the Greenbelt would be a good solution, while allowing tent camping at the ballpark portion of Evers Park, near Expedition Island. He doesn’t see the camping as an issue that would impact the normal usage at Evers Park.

“I wouldn’t be in favor of that, that’s just me,” Councilman Gary Killpack said. “If I lived down there, I would not want a bunch of tents on that ball diamond.”

Killpack did say he was open to talking about it as long as they could come up with a camp.

Coursey said he would suggest limiting camping and determining what kind of response they receive, then revisit the issue next year.

Coursey said the music festival was established to allow people interested in wildlife conservation, not just hunters, the opportunity to support the MFF’s mission through an event that differs from the others hosted by the foundation. He said the reason for this approach is conservation isn’t just for hunters and believes there is more power with the non hunters than the hunters in promoting conservation efforts. He said the other aim for the festival is to provide funding for the MFF to pay for the Deer-Elk Ecology Research Project, a research project aimed at the reasons behind the failed growth of mule deer populations in Southwest Wyoming. The foundation partnered with the University of Wyoming for this project in 2014 and the MFF has $270,069 due on the project and has two years to pay off the balance.

Coursey said another aspect to the event is the fact that it takes place in Green River and could grow into a staple of the community. Coursey said the MFF learned a lot from their first music festival last year. The event lost about $40,000 last year, which resulted in the foundation moving the date to not compete with International Day in Rock Springs, as well as resetting ticket prices to a lower amount.

The MFF also seeks $10,000 from the city to help cover the costs associated with the music festival. Last year, the MFF requested $1,000. Coursey said the most important thing they pay for is the professional stage and sound equipment, which cost $17,000.

“You talk about the bands that we have coming and the total cost of the stage and frankly we’re in this about $60,000 before we even have one person pledge to purchase a ticket,” Coursey said.

He said he thinks the festival is a valuable means of bringing people to Green River, hoping it will bring people who want to stay, eat and shop in the city. However, Killpack questioned why the city should donate $10,000 if the event’s profits don’t come back to the city.

“If we donate to you, we got to donate to the next 100 people,” he said. “Once you’ve made a profit, why would we keep giving you money?”

Coursey sees the issue as similar to Flaming Gorge Days before it was transferred under the Green River URA/Main Street organization.

But, Killpack said the event isn’t similar because money generated from Flaming Gorge Days originally carried over to the next year. Rust does see the value in hosting the event, believing it could become a major attraction to Green River.

He said the MFF could help promote and grow the event even larger if it put some of its profits into their next music festival, but isn’t opposed to helping financially support it.

“I think in as much as we are a fishing and hunting community, it makes all the sense in the world to me to help promote that kind of an event,” Rust said. “I just see it as economic development for the city of Green River.”