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Goldsboro approves temporary street closure and waives $400 fee for NC FreedomFest; plan includes Jersey-barrier security
Summary
Council approved a temporary street closure and agreed to waive the $400 street-closure fee for NC FreedomFest. Organizers described a revised site plan called "Freedom Field," increased security with concrete Jersey barriers and coordination with GPD and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
The Goldsboro City Council approved a temporary street closure and granted a $400 fee waiver to NC FreedomFest organizers on Monday as part of preparations for the September festival.
Event organizers and city staff described changes to logistics and security that they say respond to lessons learned from prior years and from recent national incidents. Eric Ostendorf, the event's on-scene commander, said the plan now includes concrete Jersey barriers around the festival footprint to create hard perimeter points at street-closure locations.
"Those concrete barriers will be part of our security plan," Ostendorf said. "They will be placed at junctions around what you see on your street festival plan. That provides a new level of security based on recent attacks." City staff said the barriers have been pressure washed and painted with high-visibility markings for safety.
Organizers also showed a 3-D site model of the festival, called "Freedom Field," which depicts the stage, vendor locations, two large audience tents and the food-truck layout to improve circulation and staging. City Manager Matt Livingston said the logistics changes deconflict pedestrian and vehicle movements and should improve vendor ingress and egress.
The council voted 7-0 to approve the temporary street-closure request. After the closure was approved, the council voted to waive the $400 street-closure permit fee as an in-kind sponsorship for the nonprofit that runs the event; that motion likewise passed 7-0.
City staff and organizers said the festival is funded primarily through sponsorships and volunteer labor. Staff noted the event has a multi-year planning cycle to secure headline acts and vendor services, and estimated the festival could eventually grow to 40,000 to 50,000 attendees as it attracts larger talent.
Councilmembers and staff also discussed storing the Jersey barriers for reuse at other city events, and city police said the barriers could be used as a permanent resource for high-attendance events.
The temporary street-closure approval and fee waiver allow organizers to proceed with final site logistics, security plans and vendor permitting ahead of the September festival date.
