The B.R. Cohn Charity Fall Music Festival may be “taking it to the streets” of downtown Sonoma – or a couple blocks north of the Plaza to be exact – as the City Council Wednesday night approved the subleasing of the Field of Dreams for the longstanding autumn event.
Bruce Cohn, of B.R. Cohn Winery and longtime manager of the Doobie Brothers, is petitioning city officials for the rights to move his annual charity music festival to the First Street West recreation area.
Now that the council approved, in a 5 – 0 vote, the subleasing of the Field of Dreams, the matter comes next before the Community Services and Environmental Commission to consider a waiver for certain provisions in the special-events permit that would have to be issued – specifically to the limits of the city’s “noise ordinance,” since the event entails amplified music as late as 10:30 p.m. for both nights.
The festival celebrated its 28th year at Cohn’s Glen Ellen winery last September, but festival officials approached Sonoma City Manager Carole Giovanatto in October as to the possibility of moving the two-day music festival to the city-owned field for financial and logistical purposes.
Cohn says that over the years the festival has raised $6.5 million for local charities, but even more could be donated by the cost saving of staging the festival downtown.
In his petition to the city for use of the Field of Dreams, Cohn wrote that holding the event at the winery has in recent years proven too expensive.
“Build-out costs at the winery coupled with ABC requiring the winery to close for the weekend have made it too costly,” wrote Cohn. “By relocating to the Field of Dreams I can save over $100,000 in production costs which will be able to go directly to the recipients above and beyond what we normally raise.”
Councilmembers raised few objections to the subleasing at the Wednesday meeting; council approval for any sublease is required despite the leasee, the Sonoma Valley Field of Dreams Board, already giving it their stamp of approval.
“This is just the toggle switch that starts the (application) process,” said Councilmember Madolyn Agrimonti about her vote to approve the sublease. “But I have questions (about staging the event at the field).”
The annual music event, which is tentatively scheduled this year for Oct. 2 to 4, has over the years featured some of the biggest names on the festival circuit, including Willie Nelson, Gregg Allman, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bonnie Raitt and the Doobie Brothers.
Last year’s event welcomed Melissa Etheridge, Peter Frampton, Huey Lewis & the News, the Wallflowers and Los Lonely Boys.
In a Dec. 16 letter to City Manager Giovanatto, Sonoma Valley Field of Dreams Board President Richard Goertzen expressed his support for the subleasing of the field to the festival.
“I am very excited about a music festival returning to Sonoma,” said Goertzen.
The Field of Dreams had previously been used for a major music festival in the mid 2000s, when the Sonoma Jazz Plus festival was in its heyday.
While no community members spoke up at the meeting against the sublease, two residents cautioned against repeating any mistakes that may have been made by Sonoma Jazz Plus.
Sonoma resident Fred Allebach cited “substantial community sentiment against the jazz fest” and suggested the city consider the causes of that as it moves forward with the B.R. Cohn Festival.
Jack Wagner, of Sonoma, added that he never attended the jazz festival because tickets were too expensive.
If the festival clears the next hurdle at the CSEC, Cohn says the next steps are to hold “open-house neighbor meetings” to discuss ways to deal with traffic, parking and promoting alternative transportation to the festival.
Cohn also says he’d like to rename the event the Sonoma Music Festival, while producing it under the nonprofit BR Cohn Charity Events.
Last year’s event welcomed Melissa Etheridge, Peter Frampton, Huey Lewis & the News, the Wallflowers and Los Lonely Boys.
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