Published: June 30, 2009 03:56 pm      

Need for caution — 07/01/09

Summer Motion is different but remains much the same .

In many ways, this year’s Summer Motion is not that much different than the previous 20 years of this community’s most popular annual event. There will be three excellent nights of concerts by well-known performers, lots of booths selling delicious food, two days of arts and crafts festival, a petting zoo, inflatables, a car show and lots of other activities in Central Park, and this region’s best fireworks show. And best of all, it is all free to the public, giving area residents a fun way to spend the Independence Day holiday without burning much fuel or cash.

But there is one major difference in this year’s Summer Motion, and because of that Summer Motion President Chuck Charles and his huge crew of volunteers need the cooperation of area residents to pull it off. Because of the construction on the riverfront, the three nights of concerts have been moved to Central Park. That significantly changes the traffic pattern for Summer Motion, and beginning tonight, area motorists need to be extra cautious when driving downtown.

As always, those attending the concerts will be looking for places to park downtown, but instead of leaving their vehicles and heading across Greenup Avenue at 15th Street to the concerts on the riverfront, they will be walking on Central, Carter, Lexington and Winchester avenues toward the concert stage in the park. Central Avenue from 19th Street to 22nd Street is closed for the concerts, eliminating that popular route for motorists.

Thus, if you are driving downtown today through Sunday, expect to encounter some delays. Just stay calm and be patient.

There are two major reasons why we think this Summer Motion will go as smoothly as in the previous years.

One is the people who attend the Summer Motion concerts. In the past, their behavior has been exemplary, and there is no reason to think it will be any different this year. Literally tens of thousands of people have attended the riverfront concerts over the years, but in all that time, police have never had a problem with crowd control and the number of arrests has been few. We attribute part of that to the decision made years ago to keep the concert alcohol free, but even more important than that is that those attending the concert are there to have fun and enjoy the music in a family atmosphere.

The second reason is Chuck Charles. His organizational skills are exemplary and his team of volunteers know their jobs and how to do them. If anyone else but Charles were in charge of this year’s Summer Motion, we would be far less confident that it would go smoothly.

As always, the fireworks will be launched from a barge on the Ohio River, but this year 10,000 or so spectators won’t be able to crowd onto the riverfront to watch the show. That’s a change nearly as significant as moving the concerts to the park, but the fireworks can be seen from many locations in the city. Spectators need to find a good viewing spot that is not on the riverfront.

Charles and the Summer Motion committee have been planning the festivities for the better part of a year. Tonight they put their plans into motion. With our cooperation, it will be a great celebration of our nation’s birthday.