PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — After months of debate, the Country Thunder Florida Festival has now been moved to a new event space in Clearwater, less than a month before the festival begins!
Business owners on St. Pete Beach said they were surprised to hear that The Country Thunder Florida Festival was suddenly moving away from St. Pete Beach to Coachman Park in Clearwater.
Watch report from Casey Albritton
Businesses react to new location of Country Thunder Florida Festival
“I was devastated this morning because we were all waiting for it to happen, we were all prepared for it,” said Cat Lepetit, who owns a boutique called Sun Drunk.
The concert was set to take place in front of the Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach during the start of turtle nesting season.
Leaders of the Coastal Wildlife Advocacy Group said a large concert could keep turtles and birds from nesting.
After pushback from the group, the City of Clearwater announced the concert will now be held at Coachman Park.
Leaders with the City of St. Pete Beach also said the concert had not obtained the correct permits to have the event on the beach.
“Bad organization period. I don’t know what happened, but that sounds completely off a normal process,” said Lepetit.
Country Thunder Executive Director Kim Blevins said, “As we moved forward with planning for the festival, it became clear that Clearwater offered the infrastructure and community partnership needed to bring this event to life the right way.”
Owners of a restaurant called the Copper Kettle said they understand why the concert was moved.
It’s more of this old Florida vibe, and I think to protect the nature that we have here and all the animals, for us, that’s a very important priority,” said Nikki Victorero.
Lepetit agrees.
“I’m torn because I’m all about the turtles, I give 10% of my profit to Keep Pinellas Beautiful, I do beach cleanups all the time… so when I heard the dates, I was like ‘come on, that’s the first weekend of turtle season,'” said Lepetit.
But business owners were anticipating an increase in tourism from the concert.
“It’s been difficult coming back from the hurricanes, and this tourism season has been down obviously…and so those of us who are trying to reopen, especially the mom and pops, it’s really important to get people to the area,” said Victorero.
Even though the concert was moved to Clearwater, business owners on St. Pete Beach said they hope people will still visit.
“I hope we are going to do a good job to tell them we exist so they can come here and check it out,” said Lepetit.
The concert will run from May 8 to May 10.
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