Matt Snyder of Pinpoint Events has obtained a permit from SPAR to utilize a portion of Betty Virginia Park this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Snyder is NOT paying ANY rent to the city.

But Snyder IS charging an admission fee into the area he will be using for CRAWFEST.

This is a FOR PROFIT event --and the only such FOR PROFIT event that has been allowed to use a Shreveport public park and charge an admission fee.

Payment of the admission fee gets you nothing--you get to walk in the public park that taxpayers maintain.

Food, beverages, etc. must be purchased.

And bands playing in that area can easily be heard in a 10-block area, unfortunately.

Word on the street is that on Saturday a group of retired teachers plan to assert their rights as taxpayers and "crash" the event--walk in WITHOUT paying. Or breach any fenced area and enter.

Soo...will they be subject to arrest or citation?

Snyder is required to have security at the area, but what would be the basis for any enforcement action against these citizens?

Snyder is NOT the property owner and presumably he has NO legal right to take action against so-called trespassers.

Is Snyder going to take personal action against any who insist on entering the CRAWFEST area without putting money into his coffer?

Is Snyder going to ban any crashers from visiting the vendors on the location?

Thanks to a SPAR bureaucrat Snyder was issued a permit that allows him to charge an admission fee when the form clearly says "NO ADMISSION FEES ARE ALLOWED IN A PUBLIC PARK".

This permit was signed off on in early Jan., presumably without the knowledge or consent of Mayor Tom Arceneaux and/or CAO Tom Dark.

CRAWFEST is becoming a big CRAW MESS.