A crowd watches Bernard Allison at the M.L.K. Stage during the 2009 Bessie Smith Strut.The Bessie Smith Strut may lead to the resurrection of a loosely knit group that has been officially defunct for the last five years.
The M.L. King Merchants Association has been mentioned as a candidate to take over the role of managing the 30-year-old blues block party, held each June on M.L. King Boulevard. The Rev. Jeffrey Wilson, a community leader, said the group may be able to handle that responsibility.
"This has sparked a whole lot of discussion," Wilson said. "This has sparked a fire."
A firestorm from the public has erupted in the last week since Littlefield decided to move the Strut from M.L. King Boulevard to the Riverbend site. The mayor has cited issues of public safety and better control in light of recent violence that has flared in Chattanooga.
And before the merchants group can take over the Strut and keep it on M.L. King Boulevard, it must meet several requirements, said Richard Beeland, spokesman for Mayor Ron Littlefield. If the Strut were to continue to take place on M.L. King Boulevard, the group would have to assume full responsibility.
"They will have to have full liability," he said. "They will have to have security. All vendors will have to be inspected."
The Council is set to vote on a resolution next week that would support the merchants association handling the event and also ask the city's Beer Board and police department to assist.
People closely associated with the association said Wednesday it is not a formal group and discussions are taking place regarding how to get it more formalized.
A.L. Jackson, owner of Jackson Motors on M.L. King Boulevard, identified himself as the association's treasurer.
"We've been organized for 30 years," he said. "Right now, we're not as organized as we have been. ... We're getting more organized because of this."
Public records show the group was more formalized almost five years ago. The M.L. King Merchants and Business Association chartered itself in 2005 as a nonprofit group, but the next year, the group lost its charter after failing to filing an annual report. Within months, the group was reinstated after filing the appropriate paperwork, but in 2007, after not filing an annual report a second time, it went defunct for good.
Wilson said the group may be able to ride on the coattails of the dissolved nonprofit and that's one part of the ongoing discussions.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you see another level of rechartering, relicensing," he said, "a whole new level of energy all together."
City Attorney Mike McMahan said he was not an insurance lawyer, but he doubted very seriously the group would be able to get liability insurance without being chartered.
The group has less than three months to get that done before Riverbend starts.
McMahan said he did not know the exact parameters the merchant's association would have to follow in order for there to be a Strut, but he said it was worth a try.
"In a perfect world, if they could get everything squared away, who wouldn't like to have the Strut?" he asked.