“You belong among the wildflowers, you belong somewhere close to me. Far away from your trouble and worry…you belong somewhere you feel free.”---Tom Petty
A gang of incurable optimists led by ancient troublemaker Robert Hutchinson has decided to pick up the beat in the land of 1000 lakes, Melrose/Keystone Heights, Florida. Hutch and a few cronies have put together a non-profit and bought a batch of raw acreage close to the intersection of Alachua, Bradford, Clay and Putnam counties, establishing WildFlowers Music Park, the better to amuse you with, my dears. Some of the locals, alas, are miffed, thinking that Bingo Night at the Rooterville Animal Sanctuary and a few rounds at Tom’s Mini Golf should be enough excitement for anybody, but many others will beg to differ.
WildFlowers, all 270 acres of it, is in the process of being transformed from bushes and trees into a rural music park for concerts and other live musical events. The new owners promise to keep things as natural as possible. “Not only will we not be removing any of the large live oaks, but we’ll be caring for them and removing invasive species that threaten their existence,” says Hutchinson. “We are restoring the land to use as a public nature park and will be growing native wildflowers and grasses for the seeds. Once a year, we will celebrate our mission, support one or more families and make our mortgage payments by hosting a family-friendly festival of music and dance. The first one will take place in March, 2026.”
Once a year doesn’t mean there won’t be more than one concert at WildFlowers. After all, it is a music park, right? But country folk are often slow to clap their hands and jump up and down, wary of those famous flies in the ointment. Melrose entrepreneur Mark Chiappini, whose family has operated the retail colossus in town since the place was called Shake Rag and people lived in caves and ate dirt, wants everybody to relax. “We need something like this out here,” insists Mr. C. “It’s a great place to live, but a tough local economy. For a businessman, hard to make a buck. WildFlowers can’t do anything but help.”
Local influencer Regina Coeli (secret identity Gina Hawkins) has hired on as an organizer, which means she will thump drums for the project and drag people out there by their ears, if necessary. Coeli is a force of nature who will drive up to your house in her cute little panel truck, open the door and invite you in for coffee and Danish, then slam the door shut and haul you to Snoqualmie, Washington if she’s of a mind to. Don’t fight it, you’ll have a good time. “Forty years of service and never a complaint,” says Gina, “Come on-a my house, my house come on, I’m gonna give you everything.”
A Visit To Wonderland
A mere mile south of bustling downtown Melrose, Florida sits a gently rolling mosaic of upland meadows, mixed hardwood forests and wetlands that range from small sinkholes to bottomland swamps to a ten-acre ephemeral sandhill lake. You’d hardy notice if the area wasn’t astir with aging gentlemen clanging around on tractors uprooting junk trees, clearing out annoying bushes and readying the place for the March 2026 opening concert of WildFlowers Music Park.
Out for a look at the shenanigans, we raised an eyebrow when Captain Hutchinson said everything would be in readiness well before D-Day. There’s land to level, stages to build, pathways to create and March is just around the corner, but Hutch and his cheerful pal Richard Vories sneer at the challenge. “Most of the clearing work will be done by the end of November,” they promise.
The festival, itself, will be “A celebration of music and dance, a community-driven event that emphasizes creativity and local engagement.” The event and those following will be scaled-down versions of your typical festivals, fostering a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere and an eclectic mix of music genres and other activities including visual arts, crafts, dance and wellness activities for all ages. There is no truth to the rumor that Mark Chiappini will dive from a 50-foot-high platform into a bucket of water, but Gina will do her highly-acclaimed Dance of the Seven Veils, always a show-stopper.
The festival will be three or four days long, hopefully with occasionally simultaneous music on three stages. Approximately half of the attendees are expected to camp on site. Anywhere from 1500 to 3000 paying customers are expected, along with 500-900 performers, vendors, contractors, volunteers, sponsors, dealers and itinerant bikers who always seem to show up at these things. WildFlowers is keenly aware of the limitations of small-town roadways and will engage a professional traffic planner/engineer to model the vehicle impact on affected arterial and collector roads, and we’re glad that isn’t us.
The park expects their events to have a much lower sound level than large rock concerts and electronic dance music shows, some of which have been known to blast neighbor Grandpa Jones out of his bed at two in the morning. The wealth of forested areas and rolling terrain surrounding the festival stages should help. If you’re dubious, one good reason for keeping the volume down is to prevent the din from the main stage from overwhelming the music coming from the smaller stages nearby. The mainstage will also be pointed away from all existing houses in the area, the closest of which is more than 1000 feet away. The greatest challenge in controlling sound at outdoor music ventures is managing those pesky low-frequency bass wavelengths. The WF gang swears they’ll keep the noise down, anyway. “We’ve got bass trap woofters and phase canceling techniques,” smiles Richard Vories, looking like a kid in a candy store. “And Mark is thinking about adding earplugs to his inventory, just in case.”
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| Bill with the Mayor of Melrose |
NIMBY vs. Not So Bad
Resident Steve Lebel isn’t so sure all this is such a great idea. “Fundamentally, it’s the impact on the neighbors; the proponents have selected a site that’s in the immediate neighborhood. People move to Melrose to find peace and quiet and a concert venue immediately adjacent to the village is going to impact that.” Lebel maintains that traffic, emergency access and environmental risks are high on his list of concerns. He argues that campers won’t have to leave the site, thus merchants in the community will see little economic benefit. “It seems that the services that campers want will be provided on-site,” claims Lebel. “We might get a little bit of retail business but folks aren’t going to leave their campsites if they can buy whatever they want on-site."
Many neighbors disagree, however. Some believe the events could bring new energy to the town and point to similar festivals around the country that have operated safely and to the economic benefit of their communities for years. Larry Easton, who lives across the street from the proposed site, says the festival could provide cultural enrichment and help attract young families. “It’s going to be a permanent green space, they have marvelous conservation plans. We love the idea of a music festival and we think it’s important for Melrose if we’re going to avoid the fates of Waldo and Hawthorne.”
Easton contends that people have attended similar festivals elsewhere for decades and the events have become important important parts of their lives, adding that opposition is driven by fears which don’t match up with what he’s seen at similar festivals. Wildflowers honcho Hutchinson insists that property values near similar music parks have virtually always increased.
WildFlowers is always looking for volunteers and invites visitors. To get involved as a volunteer, performer or vendor, tab on WildflowersMusicPark.org or look up Gina, dangerous as that may be.
That’s all, folks….
bill.killeen094@gmail.com
