Tale of two permits in Golden Gate Park
By: Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer
July 9, 2009
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| Jump, jive: Lindy in the Park has grown to include hundreds of swing dancers. (Courtesy photo) |
The swing dancers have triumphed, but the Elizabethans have not.
In late June, city officials abruptly pulled the plug on Lindy in the Park, a free swing dancing event that for 13 years has been held each Sunday on the sidewalk near the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
In response to a noise complaint, a park patrol officer interrupted the dance event midstep June 28, telling befuddled organizers they could not return until they had a permit from the Recreation and Park Department.
Founder and organizer Ken Watanabe has never been asked for a permit before, partly because the event started with a boom box and a handful of couples. Lindy in the Park has since grown to 100 to 200 dancers per week and music is now amplified through three speakers.
Within days, however, Rec and Park issued Watanabe a free historic-use permit that allows the weekly dance event to continue as is, department spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell said.
The Golden Gate Renaissance Festival, however, has had less luck negotiating with The City. The annual outdoor fair, in which guests and entertainers emulate characters from the Renaissance era, has been held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park for the past six years, event co-producer Marti Miernik said.
Problems began this year when Rec and Park did not inform the company of the approved dates to hold the festival — Aug. 1 and 2 — until mid-June, which was too late to adequately advertise it, according to event organizers.
Meanwhile, the fair was “courted” by the city of Fremont, so it will be held at the Ardenwood Historic Farm on Sept. 12, Miernik said.
Seitz Gruwell said The City would work to bring the event back next year.
