By MARY MARAGHY / mary.maraghy@myclaysun.com
Say “Warped Tour” and Orange Park High School student Baileigh Johnson envisions scary, rowdy crowds.
“My friend went to it once and got her nose ring ripped out,” the 16 -year-old said.
But Green Cove Springs law enforcement officials said they are prepared for the rock circus coming to Green Cove Springs today in the form of the 2007 Vans Warped Tour — 7,500 teens, 61 punk rock bands and extreme sports demonstrations.
“We’ve got it covered. It’s a large endeavor, but we have it under control,” said Green Cove Springs police chief Richard Musco, who said extra support will be provided by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Orange Park and Starke police and federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
During past tours that drew about 8,000 concert goers to Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park, some suffered bumps, bruises or dehydration. At the last tour, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, there was one arrest, four ejections, 15 incidents and six injuries.
The set-up on 75 acres at Reynolds Park Yacht Center, 1063 Bulkhead Road, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 a.m. today and break down at 10 p.m.
“We hope to be out of there by 11:30 p.m.,” said Musco, adding that no roads will be closed. Also, because the event lasts all day, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., he doesn’t expect much traffic congestion because concert goers will arrive sporadically throughout the day. And once they are in, they can’t leave and come back again, he said.
“It’s a new venue here in Clay County and we expect a safe event.”
Officials from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said they are aware of the event and will respond if problems arise.
“Everything is going to go very well,” said Joe Hapi, special events coordinator at Reynolds Park Yacht Center. “I am pleased that they chose us.”
Meanwhile Green Cove Springs vice mayor Mike Kelter said he’s going to be there, purely out of curiosity.
“I’ve got to see what the young people are listening to today,” he said.
Warped Tour Details
The 2007 Van Warped Tour is 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today at Reynolds Park Yacht Center, 1063 Bulkhead Road in Green Cove Springs.
Tickets: $27.75 through ticketmaster.com.
Parking: $10.
AT&T cell phone owners can flash their phones and skip the long line.
Participating bands: Alesana, All Time Low, Amber Pacific, Anberlin, Bad Religion, Bayside, Big D and the Kids Table, Bleed The Dream, Bless The Fall, Boys Like Girls, Chiodos, Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria, Cute Is What We Aim For, Don’t Die Cindy, Escape The Fate, Evaline, Family Force Five, Funeral for a friend, Gallows, Haste The Day, Hawthorne Heights, IainTerry band, It Dies Today, K-OS, Killswitch Engage, mayday parade, Meg and Dia, My American Heart CA, New Found Glory, Norma Jean, Nothington, Paramore, Parkway Drive, Pennywise, Pepper, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (of Middleburg), Revolution Mother, scary kids scaring kids, Straylight Run, Street Drum Corps, The automatic, The Chariot, The Dear And Departed, The Fabulous Rudies, The Graduate, The Human Abstract, The Matches, the spill canvas, The Starting Line, The Toasters, The Unseen, The Vincent Black Shadow, Throw The Fight, Throwdown, Tiger Army, Warped Tour, Yellowcard.
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