Arts, Beats & Eats Attendance Down So Far; Fest Will Stay Open Extra Hour Monday

The heat and weather have kept crowds well below expected for the Arts, Beats & Eats festival in Royal Oak, said director John Witz.

To give those who stayed home a second chance to see, hear and taste what they missed, Art, Beats & Eats has extended its hours today to 10 p.m., an hour longer than planned, Witz said.

“Through the courtesy of the city of Royal Oak, Arts, Beats & Eats is going to stay open one extra hour tonight,” Witz said. “We’re going to let all the bands play a little longer.”

Witz has been organizing Arts, Beats & Eats since 1998, when the festival took off in Pontiac. This is the second year for the event in Royal Oak. The first year they had record-breaking attendance. This year, crowds are down significantly from 2010.

Perhaps it’s a sophomore slump, but most agree Friday and Saturday’s hot temperatures kept people home.

On Saturday, leather artist Gail Robinson was concerned about the smaller crowds.

“Last year they had to stop letting people in," she said. “This year it doesn't seem like there are as many people. It might be the heat. I don’t know. I’m still selling some things though.”

Witz says crowds were down on Friday and Saturday when temperature were in the 90s.

“We were down 30 percent on Saturday, and we felt we had a chance to make a comeback,” he said, “then the storms came through and we were down 40 percent for both Friday and Saturday.”

Witz says at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday they warned art vendors a wave of high winds was headed for Royal Oak. Because of the fragile nature of their wares, many of them packed up for the night. Witz said they didn’t warn the restaurants until , as a result he says they lost four or five tents. 

“We had 55 mph winds come through, “ he said. “We had a lot of flying debris.” There were no reported injuries.

By 9 p.m. Saturday, many of the vendors and the crowd had left, although thousands either stuck it out in nearby stores or came back , an appearance Witz called a high point for all the years he's overseen the festival.

On Sunday, when the temperatures cooled, the crowds heated up. About 125,000 people came through the gates Sunday, Witz said, for a total of 250,000 attendees for the first three days.

On a positive note, Witz said people are responding well to the  expanded footprint of the festival.

“We’ve had no complaints about overcrowding this year,” he said, and people seem to be behaving. Witz says he’s heard of few arrests.

Royal Oak Police Deputy Chief Gordon Young said that through Sunday there have been five arrests for disorderly conduct and one digital camera was reported stolen.

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