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DURHAM -- Damage concerns have prompted city administrators to terminate the two remaining years of a three-year contract to host the World Beer Festival at Durham Athletic Park.
But they and beer festival organizers, with the help of officials from Downtown Durham Inc., are discussing the possibility of a new deal that would allow the annual tasting to continue.
"It's still conceivable the event could occur, but there will have to be some operational changes," said City Manager Tom Bonfield, who wrote beer festival chief organizer Daniel Bradford late last month to notify him of the contract cancellation.
Bradford and DDI President Bill Kalkhof agreed that subsequent talks are making what Bradford termed "a good effort" to find a solution.
"My experience has always been, in all my years with DDI, that when all the parties agree there's something we want to do in downtown and in this case keep in downtown, we usually figure out how to get it done," Kalkhof added. "I'm optimistic we'll achieve that."
Bonfield opted to cancel the remaining years of the contract after his government had to eat $63,431 in costs associated with this fall's beer festival, which returned to the newly renovated DAP following a one-year sojourn at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The bill included $25,591 in "on-site landscape and maintenance support during the event," and $37,840 to replace sod damaged while the field was covered.
The deal's terms left the city on the hook for those bills. The contract did, however, require Bradford's company, Chautauqua Inc., to pay $2,147 for other repair expenses. They included bills for damage to the stadium's warning track and irrigation system.
The beer festival was one of two fall events the city agreed to host at the DAP separately from its operations contract with Minor League Baseball Inc.
The other, the Bull Durham Blues Festival, uses the stadium on a year-to-year deal. The city ate $27,745 in landscape and support expenses associated with this year's concert, Bonfield said in a letter to blues fest chief organizer Dianne Pledger.
Pledger's group, the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, had to pay another $2,650 for contractually covered repairs. They again targeted the warning track.
The key issues in the beer-fest renegotiation, Kalkhof said, are figuring "out how to go forward so it doesn't cost the city any money," and coming up with a plan that offers more protection to the stadium's sod.
The city does own a plastic-tile field cover for the stadium, but there are questions about whether it has enough tiles or enough of the right type, Kalkhof and other sources said.
The canceled contract with the beer festival also specified that the city was "required to let them have five days of usage" of a covered field, three days longer than the tiles are designed to stay over the sod without causing damage, General Services Director Joel Reitzer said.
City officials are working with Minor League Baseball to come up with "a more specific set of operational procedures and standards" for use of the stadium, Bonfield said, adding that the blues festival will have to comply with them.
Bonfield's cancellation letter to Bradford said he was willing to "begin immediate discussions ... related to other venues that might be suitable" for the beer festival.
But Bradford has since indicated that he feels the best place for event is one of the city's two stadiums. "One of the things that sets it apart from other [beer festivals] is it's not a street festival," Kalkhof said.
Bonfield said city officials have talked with Minor League Baseball about the situation, but their subsequent moves "are city decisions."
The manager also asked DDI "to lead a broader planning effort that's targeted toward answering questions like where should the venues for festivals in downtown should be, and what services and equipment do festival producers need at each of those sites," Kalkhof said.
That work should begin in January, Kalkhof added.
Bradford -- who termed Bonfield and Kalkhof "solid guys" to work with -- said his group is "very much active" in that discussion.
"Events are a very valuable way for a city to increase economic impact and also increase brand value," Bradford added, explaining the need for a broader policy on how to handle them.
