Woodburn Independent Online

Parking won’t be an issue at this year’s Fiesta

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 6/30/2010 9:47:06 AM

WOODBURN — The city of Woodburn has secured a lot near Legion Park to help with parking during the Fiesta Mexicana.
 
According to Recreation and Parks Director Jim Row, the city-owned property is a grassy field just north of Alexandra Street. The hope is to alleviate some of the vehicle congestion around the park.
 
“The neighborhood gets hit pretty hard with cars,” Row said. “It tends to get busier in the evening when we have the main stage running and the dances happening.”
 
Having the extra space, Row said, which can fit several hundred vehicles, will help free up some of the room in the neighborhood around the park.
 
The goal is to find a local service club interested in operating the parking lot during the event. The club would get to keep a share of the revenue generated by the lot.
 
Although Row said most neighbors are supportive of the event, he noted it has received occasional parking complaints over the years. More than that, he said, residents complain about the trash.
 
“That’s an area where we’re going to make sure that we’re doing a good job of sending our volunteers around the neighborhoods to keep things picked up really well,” he said.
 
Noise concerns surface sometimes too, although mostly from residents directly adjacent to the park, Row said. The fact that the city has taken over the event this year should mitigate some of that, he added.
 
“We’ll have the ability to have more control over the volume levels so we can hopefully keep it within limits,” he said. “Our general standard for special events is that we have a maximum allowable sound level of 80 decibels at the boundaries of the park. We have a decibel meter so we’ll be out there monitoring sounds to make sure we’re keeping it within the limits.”
 
He said organizers are still unsure of how many people to expect. Last year’s numbers were down due to the heat as well as issues in the weeks preceding over the bill and cancellation threats. However, in years past, the event often saw 20,000 people over the three days.
 
With the extra advertising through newspapers, magazines and radio stations this year, combined with significantly lowered admissions prices, there should be a significant turnout, he said.
 
“We don’t really know but I think it’s going to be a lot of people,” he said. “It’s going to be busy.”
 
Row said excitement and enthusiasm continue to circulate about the event, which the city took over for the first time this year from the Woodburn Latin American Club.
 
City staff is doing its best to prevent any negative impacts on the immediate neighborhood, he said.
 
“We want to be responsible to the neighbors,” he said. “We really do understand and appreciate the impact that it is inevitably going to have and we appreciate the understanding that the neighbors have always had over the years when it comes to these inconveniences over this particular weekend.”
 
The parking lot, he said, is an open field with a storage building just north of the Woodburn Armory.

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