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Outrage in the Belmont County Hills

Jamboree fans, commissioner express concern

Belmont County Commissioner Matt Coffland brings his cowboy hat and cooler to Wednesday’s commission meeting in protest of the planned changes to the former Jamboree In The Hills festival, now called “Jambo Country.”

MORRISTOWN — When Raymond Duane learned his beloved Jamboree In The Hills was going to undergo some major changes next year, he got so mad he started a Facebook page: “Boycott Jambo Country.”

In a matter of days, the page has collected nearly 8,000 followers who apparently feel as strong as Duane, a Wheeling resident, does.

Live Nation announced this week changes to the country music festival, including that it will no longer allow coolers inside the venue or beer or other alcoholic beverages to be brought inside and has been shortened from four days to three. The name also has been changed to “Jambo Country.”

For JITH fans such as Duane, the changes feel personal because they consider the event to be theirs. He believes the changes will eventually cause the festival to collapse.

Duane hopes by boycotting the event its owner, Live Nation, will reverse its plans.

“Jamboree has become a part of my life. I visit people from all over the country who I met at Jamboree,” Duane said, noting his JITH friends have dubbed him “mayor of campground E.”

Duane said he was living in Buffalo, N.Y., when he learned about the event years ago. Duane, a self-described Grateful Dead “deadhead,” said after the band’s leader, Jerry Garcia, died, Duane’s then-wife took him to Jambo and he ended up having a great time.

“I couldn’t believe how much fun it was,” he said.

Duane noted his marriage eventually ended, but his love of JITH continued. He eventually met a Wheeling woman at the festival and decided to move to the Friendly City.

In campground E, Duane said he started serving spaghetti dinners to hundreds of his fellow Jamboree fans. Prior to the event starting each year, he cuts the grass in the campground and cleans it up.

“Why do I visit these friends? Friendship is something you have to put effort into. They’re like family. It’s the same people next to me year after year … There are 3,000 people who can’t wait to see each other in campground E every year,” Duane said.

Duane said while he disagrees with the new policies, he believes people have been wrongly blaming Kelly Tucker Jones, Jambo Country general manager, online. He said he’s had to take down posts on his page related to her.

“Kelly Tucker Jones must be left alone and people need to stop harassing her. That’s the most important thing to me,” he said.

Duane believes there will be thousands of people who will demonstrate their displeasure with the changes during the one-day sale of tickets next week.

“You know how many people are buying next week? None. Of everyone I know, no one is going,” Duane said. “I’m not going. I may go out to just see how many people really show up.”

Another Wheeling resident, Logan Wojcik, who is not affiliated with Duane’s Facebook page, said his goal as a musician has always been to play on the Jamboree stage. He also is concerned about the changes.

“To my family and friends, Jambo brought people together more than most holidays. It might sound odd to someone who doesn’t attend or doesn’t live around here, but there was a camaraderie that you couldn’t find anywhere but Jambo,” Wojcik said.

“With these new changes, they’ve sold themselves out just to be like any other venue or festival. I’ve heard tons of different reasons: safety, convenience, bringing in bigger acts, but none of them make sense. Thousands of people are around to make sure everyone stays safe and hydrated.”

The outrage over JITH even carried over to the Belmont County Commission meeting Wednesday, as Commissioner Matt Coffland wore a cowboy hat and brought a cooler to the commissioners’ table with him to protest the changes.

He said the impact of these changes on the region’s economy will be negative.

“A lot of businesses live on sales that they (get) in the month of July for that event,” Coffland said, noting prices charged for drinks are often excessive and will likely hurt the experience.

“I just think they’ve taken something that’s been a tradition and they’ve absolutely just kicked it in the teeth. They can say what they want, they want to fall on safety, maybe they ought to come down and stand in line and see what you go through to get into Jamboree. They open up, they search your cooler, you can’t even get a bottle of vodka in a water bottle because they check to see if it’s open or not. I think that some corporate people made a decision without even understanding.”

Coffland added that on Dec. 5 he called event officials at Live Nation in Nashville and has yet to receive a return phone call.

“Last year they wanted $10,000 out of this county to help promote the event. This commission sponsored $10,000. I think if nothing else we’re entitled to a phone call back,” he said. “This is a major impact for our county, to our residents, to a 40-year tradition of people going to Jamboree In The Hills. It’s a shame. They can say what they want, I’m saying you’ve taken 40 years of tradition, you’ve thrown it all out overnight.”

He noted many other frequent festival attendants feel the same way.

“I represent those people that pull the coolers. Those people that do the Redneck Run, the everyday people that go to Jamboree,” he said. “When you take a three-day event … you’ve got a limited budget. You try to buy a drink for $12 or $15, go to a ball game, drinks are $20.”

Coffland said drinking is simply part of the event tradition and the sale of alcohol is a help to the local economy. He said much of the economic development through JobsOhio is funded through liquor sales.

Dylan McKenzie contributed to this report.

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