Hi gang…Dave here. I’m the Program Director of K105 and 1st off, let me thank all those who came out to Parkview Field yesterday to CountryFest 2014…and those who came BACK after the extended rain delay. I have read all the comments posted here – the good and the bad – and felt that I needed to chime in and give everyone the timeline of what happened yesterday and the reasons why we did what we did. At 3:15 yesterday, the National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Allen County. At 3:45 yesterday afternoon, we got word that a line of strong thunderstorms was developing to the west of the state – we contacted local meteorologists to get a read on what was developing and how quickly it would head towards us. We also had real time radar on at Parkview Field – they are really good at that because of the baseball games, I might add. At 4:15 – a Tornado Warning was issued for Porter County At 4:50 – a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Kosciusko County At 5:25 – a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Noble and Whitley Counties, in addition to Kosciusko again At 5:55 – a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for DeKalb County, along with Noble again At 6:05 – Allen County was included in the Severe Thunderstorm Warning. Before we put Craig Campbell on stage at 5pm, we checked with meteorologists, band management, Parkview Field and our own brain trust to make sure we were safe to put Craig on. At that time, we knew that whatever was developing would not be affecting us until at least 6:15-6:30, so the decision was made to put Craig on. While he was playing, we kept watching radar and consulting with band management and Parkview Field, and around 5:30, the decision was made that when Craig came off stage at 5:45 we would clear the field, and shut the show down until after the storm had passed. This was due to the safety of those attending the show, along with the stage hands and performers. People were directed to the concourse, the parking garages and their cars, but needed to be actually off the field. The field was cleared in 19 minutes (AND THANK YOU FOR THAT!) At the time, our information was it that this was a fast moving storm and should be by us rather quickly – that was the history of this line of storms. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is fickle, and she decided to stick around Fort Wayne for a bit longer. We tried to keep everyone up to date via Facebook and Twitter as to what was happening, along with what we HOPED would be happening soon. We were a little off as the storm slowed down right over us. I met with Parkview Field, Band management, and my bosses multiple times between 6 and 9 hoping for a restart, and finally at 8:45, it stopped raining and the lightning had left the area. We were able to get the stage hands out to the stage to start drying it off and powering it back up. Unfortunately, because of the delay, Parmalee was unable to perform as scheduled. Brett and Billy shortened their set a bit, and we were able to restart the show at 9:40. We did what we did to keep everyone safe. That was our primary and ONLY concern from the time we knew of the line of storms developing to when it actually hit Fort Wayne. We appreciate everyone for coming out…we know there was some issues outside of the weather - and we will address those OUTSIDE of a public forum (yes I will delete) and we WILL be back next year…so mark your calendars for September 19th at Parkview Field for CountryFest 2015!
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 15:50:40 +0000
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