STOP bringing your dogs to Levitt

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Before we get to the recommendations of animal health experts on the topic, I want to clarify, I love dogs. I had one for several years. I would take him on walks regularly and had a fenced in backyard for his outdoor enjoyment. Dogs make great companions and we love to show them off. Unfortunately I think that is the main reason why people bring them to outdoor concerts.

I wasn’t going to say anything about it until I came to a boiling point on Saturday. Two teenage girls decided to bring their very large, black, pit bull mix dog to the Levitt and sit directly in the sun. He was NOT a happy camper. He was visibly uncomfortable and panting at a very high rate. I politely asked them to first get him some water and take him home. I informed them that his high rate of panting was a sign of dehydration and heat exhaustion. They did move to the shade, and then I think they eventually left.

Besides this example, animal health experts have warned about bringing your dog to outdoor concerts for several ‘common sense’ reasons;

It’s Extremely Loud

Worst Place for Socialization

Your Dog Will Get Hurt

Food on the Ground

And as I mentioned above, depending on the weather, it can be extremely uncomfortable for them. While you may be very proud of your St. Charles you had to take a 2nd mortgage out to afford to buy him, in the future if you want to show them off to me, keep some cute pictures on your phone to show me, and let your dog relax at home while you enjoy the concert.

Levitt Cancels 1st concert of season

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It’s too bad, because it looks like the rain may be way later or go around us. They also stopped the show last night at 8 PM. But hey, better safe than sorry.

I was looking forward to tonight’s band.

I also have been making some rough estimates of the crowd count. The first show was probably around 1,500 to 2,000 people, since then it has hovered at around 500 people during the week and last night around that 1,000 mark. There has also been plenty of parking and people have told me they haven’t had any trouble finding something close. I have also noticed people are car pooling, which is good.

Here’s some pictures from last week’s shows and some fun last night.

Click to enlarge

 

Make sure you are wearing clean underwear

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This may as well be what the sign at the entrance should say, because it doesn’t mean a hill of beans.

They could avoid all this by just allowing BYOB, but there is always someone who MUST make a buck from a PUBLIC function.

First off, NO ONE can search your property in a public park without a warrant, and that person needs to be with law enforcement, Levitt employees/volunteers or rent-a-cops don’t count. They CAN search without a warrant as long as there is reasonable suspicion (like a bazooka, hookah or bottle of Jack Daniels is sticking out of your backpack or cooler).

But if your cooler is closed and backpack zipped up and they ask to look inside, just say, ‘No Thanks, come back with a warrant.’

You often see these signs at other concert events, but they are usually fenced in on private property and ticketed events. In a public space at a public event no one has the right to ‘search’ you without cause. But hey, the sign is a nice gesture for those that are paranoid.

UPDATE: Another Great Night at the Levitt!

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UPDATE: Look what a little bitching will get yah. Sorry if I gave the FAB guys crap about this. Looks nice!

There is also another great jazz concert scheduled for tonight! I was actually surprised how good the crowd was for a Wednesday Night, and things are going very smoothly. For this just starting, the Levitt staff and volunteers are knocking it out of the park. GOOD JOB!

I also found out that a local bike club was asked to put in bike racks or at least put their two cents in and are looking to do something more permanent by next year. I was going to take a picture of about 6 bikes last night tied to one light post, made me chuckle. Bikers are always innovative when they need to be.

Levitt has put out a temporary bike rack

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I guess I really am a f’ing dummy, I found this rack by the old Parks and Rec building. It’s obviously temporary and not even staked to the ground. With the around $4 million dollar investment made into Levitt you would think permanent bike racks closer to concert grounds and more visible would have been installed, hopefully by next year. Either that or another $25 million dollar TIF for another DT parking ramp we don’t need.

I also got a chuckle out of Lloyd’s sponsored concrete pad. I guess they blew their wad on the sponsorship itself because it looks like they pulled a Banksy with a couple cans of spray paint and cardboard stencil. Hey, who says our local developers don’t keep up with the latest artistic trends?