Marion Municipal Airport will shut down during the first week of June for the James Dean Fest that is
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BY THE NUMBERS:
People expected to attend the 50th anniversary event: From 40,000 to 100,000
People who attended James Dean Days last September: About 30,000
People who attended Mississinewa 1812 last fall: About 25,000
Local hotel rooms: 580
Hotel rooms within 60 miles of Marion: 11,200
Hotel rooms in the Indianapolis metropolitan area: 22,000
Number of meals visitors will eat in three days: 360,000 to 900,000
Projected economic impact: $2 to $3 million
QUESTIONS?
A James Dean Festival headquarters will be set up in downtown Marion within the next week to 10 days to handle all queries about the June 3 through June 5 event.
Anyone who has an interest in being a vendor or volunteering to help at the festival should contact the headquarters once it's open. Look for more information, including a toll-free number for the headquarters, in upcoming editions of the Chronicle-Tribune. |
expected to draw a crowd of 40,000-plus from around the globe.
Officials are applying now to the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to close from June 1 through June 6, said Andy Darlington, manager of the Marion airport.
"With the amount of people they're talking about having here, it wouldn't be safe to have the airport open," said Darlington, adding that airport officials also are making plans to move more than a dozen of its 52 planes to other airports to make room for festival events. "We're trying to just keep our customers informed. People are understanding about what's going on, but they're not happy they can't use their planes."
The airport shutdown is just one example of the kind of logistical issues Marion and Grant County officials face as they take on the gargantuan task of hosting an event that could attract as many as 100,000 people.
Warner Bros. executives gathered Tuesday in Hollywood to announce some of the festival's finer points, including the construction of a giant movie screen for fans to view Dean's three films.
At home, business and government leaders were mulling over more practical concerns.
"I wonder how many porta-potties they're going to need," said Steve "Iceman" Roesly, owner of the Ice House, 1412 W. Kem Road. "I mean, you start talking about that many people ... they need to talk to vendors today and say, 'Can you bring me 10,000 porta-potties?'"
Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold said sponsors of the festival plan to set up a James Dean Festival headquarters somewhere in downtown Marion in the next week or two to handle logistical questions.
Steve Gerardi of SSG Entertainment, Indianapolis, will man the headquarters, Seybold said Tuesday from California.
"Once the headquarters is set up there will be a phone number and a toll-free number," said Seybold, who was flying home Tuesday night. Event backers, including Warner Home Video, CMG Worldwide and Action-Performance, Seybold said, will pay a majority of costs.
"There will be some expense to the city, but hardly any at all," he said, adding that the city will recoup some costs from licensing and permit fees paid by vendors. "People have to realize the city is going to benefit in the millions of dollars with advertising. We're going to get so much publicity from this."
Gerardi, who was in a meeting Tuesday and couldn't talk long, said he's looking forward to spending time in Marion.
"This is obviously a big undertaking," he said. "There's no stone I'm going to leave unturned."
City officials have been working for months already to get a handle on the two chief concerns when it comes to hosting such a large crowd:
Where will everyone stay?
Where will everyone park?
Marion-Grant County Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Karen Niverson expects hotels will fill from here to Indianapolis if turnout is anything close to what's expected. There are 580 local hotel rooms for rent. Within a 60-mile radius, there are about 11,000 more rooms.
Holiday Inn Express general manager Deborah Austin said she's already met with corporate staff to prepare for the June 3 through June 5 event.
"We're just preparing for it in the exact same manner as for the James Dean festival every year," she said. The annual Remembering James Dean festival attracts about 30,000 people. "June is a high travel period, so I'm hoping people will start making reservations soon. We're kind of excited about it."
As for parking, airport manager Darlington said he has supplied event coordinators with information about where people may and may not park. Grant County Sheriff Oatess Archey said he's met with city and county officials to discuss traffic and security concerns.
"This is going to be too big for Grant County Sheriff's or Marion Police Department," said Archey, a former FBI agent who has handled security for three Super Bowls and three Rose Bowls. "We're going to have to bring in a private security company. We're going to need somebody to handle the crowd. We need crowd control."
Darlington said he anticipates fencing off areas of the airport where equipment needs protection. The annual Fly-In Cruise-In at the airport typically draws a crowd of about 10,000.
"We know how busy we are during that time," Darlington said. "It's going to be pretty busy out here. I don't think it's going to be a rock-and-roll type crowd, but you never know. It's a good opportunity for us to showcase our airport."
