No major concert set for Trail weekend

FLORENCE -- In past years, the Trail of Tears finale has gone from feast to famine as far as big concerts are concerned.

In 2005, competing concerts at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and McFarland Park caused both to suffer.

This year, it may be left to mostly locally-owned venues to push aside tables and feature their own music that evening.

A local band will be performing in Waterloo on Sept. 16, the night the Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle ride arrives in the Shoals.

Alison Stanfield, a member of the ride's board, said the board has never sponsored a concert itself. Previous concerts that coincided with the event were sponsored by other promoters, she said.

"Right now, all the board members are so consumed with the pow-wow activities or merchandise, there's not a person available to take over the planning for a concert," she said.

Stanfield said that without a huge attendance at past concerts, even if personnel were available, one might not be planned.

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame featured concerts on its grounds for the past several years.

David Johnson, executive director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, said this year they will plan for an event "a week or so" after the Trail of Tears crowd is in town.

"We never got that much support from the motorcyclists," Johnson said.

And he doesn't want to conflict with a Darryl Worley charity event in Savannah, Tenn., that same weekend, he said.

Despite requests from the Lauderdale County Commission and Florence City Council that the Trail board reconsider ending the ride in McFarland Park in Florence, that is where the ride will officially end.

Florence's Park and Recreation Department approved a use permit for McFarland Park.

In a brief discussion by the council, it was determined that since event permits for city parks did not normally come before the council for approval, then this one shouldn't either.

Lauderdale Sheriff Ronnie Willis has said his deputies will continue an escort for those riders who want to make the trip to Waterloo.

Todd Twilley can be reached at 740-5728 or todd.twilley@timesdaily.com.