FAYETTEVILLE — Some might consider parking to never be an easy task in and around downtown Fayetteville. This week, though, that task might be downright impossible at times.
With the Bikes, Blues & BBQ rally taking the area by storm over the next few days, most spaces reserved for parking will be eaten up by motorcycles, venders, sound stages or simply a massive crowd of spectators. And with so many parking spots gobbled up for other uses during the rally, the problem of finding a place to put a car becomes even more difficult than usual.
"It's a real dilemma down here," said Brian Swain, administrator at Central United Methodist Church on Dickson Street. "I know they've tried to move some of the festival out to other areas, but parking is a dilemma this week. And it's always going to be."
With the parking situation always an issue the week of Bikes, Blues & BBQ, several organizations are doing what they can to offer some help. Central United Methodist is one such group. The church has as much parking space as anyone around the Dickson Street area, having added a parking deck to its lot a couple of years ago. And instead of making a quick dollar, Swain said the church gives up its parking lot for free to the motorcycles riding into town this week.
"We have a ministry outreach for Bikes, Blues & BBQ every year, and part of that outreach is having our parking lot available for bike parking," Swain said. "It's available [today] and then again Friday and Saturday, and it's just for bikes."
There is some parking for a fee that takes place at the church's parking deck the week of the rally, but it no doubt goes for a good cause. Washington Elementary School uses the deck to park cars as part of its annual fundraising effort, while also parking cars at the school lot to raise money for various projects.
"We've done this for the past five years," Washington Elementary Principal Ashley Garcia said. "When it first started we used our own parking lot. Then after Central United Methodist built their parking deck, we starting using the deck for our fundraiser. And the funds always go back to children's services or to fund other programs that wouldn't be available without them."
Although Central United Methodist and Washington Elementary are happy to lend a helping hand to the parking shortage, other organizations are prevented this year from doing so even if they wanted to.
The Washington County Fraternal Order of Police is one such group. Instead of parking cars as part of a fundraising effort this year they will have to sit out this time around. Usually, the organization parks cars at the courthouse parking deck to help raise their annual funds. Sgt. Bret Hagen, a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, estimated the group raised $2,000 on an annual basis parking cars during the bike rally week. But with the courthouse parking deck closed for demolition, that money must be raised in different ways this year.
Luckily for the Fraternal Order of Police, the money has been raised this year even without the parking deck fundraiser.
"We have raised our money for the year with our golf tournament and with our work done with the Parrot Head Club," Hagen said. "We cooked for the Parrot Head Club last week and raised $2,000, and they'll be between $5,000 and $6,000 from the golf tournament. So even without the parking [at the bike rally], we've got our money for the year."
News, Pages 1, 5 on 09/24/2009