Bessie Smith Strut 'beginning to feel more segregated'

Festivalgoers crowd M.L. King Boulevard during the Bessie Smith Strut in 2014.
Festivalgoers crowd M.L. King Boulevard during the Bessie Smith Strut in 2014.
photo On Sunday, June 7, 2015, a crew of five men begin fencing off the Bessie Smith Strut venue for Monday.

A year ago, a theft of thousands of dollars left the future of the Bessie Smith Strut in question.

But the Strut is back this year with some changes, and a new sense of stability.

"Last year was just an unfortunate time, it was just a black eye," said Dionne Jennings, the new director of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. "Now we're under new leadership, we're doing new things and we're moving past that and moving forward."

This year, Friends of the Festival, which runs Riverbend, will have a greater role in the ticketing and money management of the Strut. Friends of the Festival will handle staging, fencing and gating and will work with Bessie Smith Cultural Center workers on wristband and beer sales.

There also are more sponsorships and new checks and balances in place to manage the money at the annual M.L. King Boulevard festival named for Bessie Smith, the "Empress of the Blues," who sang along the same stretch of street once referred to as the Big Nine.

This year's acts are first class, said Clark White, stage name, Deacon Bluz, who will be performing first on the Bessie Stage tonight. Once only a local festival attracting residents of the M.L. King neighborhood, the Strut has begun to draw music tourists from across the country, raising the event's profile in the world of blues music, he said.

"It's growing and improving and it is a part of blues tourism now," he said.

But with that raised profile, some locals are dissatisfied. At $10 a head for those older than 11, some say it's not affordable for the whole family anymore.

"I wish it were still free," said Victor Williams, who co-owns Memo's Grill, a local staple known for its chopped wieners and barbecue. "There's less people on the street, so that means less customers."

Others question the cultural center's decision to move the second music stage. It's sited next to Champy's Famous Fried Chicken, which is sponsoring the stage.

Dr. Elenora Woods, president of the local NAACP chapter, said some business owners have complained this move will discourage foot traffic from reaching black merchants farther east on M.L King Boulevard.

"It's beginning to feel more segregated," Woods said. "No thought was put into whether it would affect other businesses. All the businesses on M.L. King should get to reap the benefits of extra business. It's unfair."

In 2012, the city pushed to move the Strut to the main Riverbend Festival site at Ross's Landing, citing safety concerns. Some black leaders denounced the move as racist, and the Friends of the Festival declined to hold the event.

Instead, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center started managing the Strut. The organizers decided to put a fence around the festival and charge admission fees.

Last year, all the cash from the festival was stolen from the cultural center when the money was left uncounted in an office drawer over night. Center employee Torrey Hines admitted he went into the office, vandalized the building with racial graffiti to misdirect investigators and stole about $42,000 in cash. Bessie Smith officials said about $88,000 in cash had been taken. But an independent audit released in September couldn't confirm how much money was actually stolen, saying that the center's employees failed to document wristband and beer sales and cash-handling procedures.

After the audit was released, then-director Rose Martin left and the cultural center's board announced sweeping changes would be made.

Before this year's festival, Jennings, who was hired in January, asked the Friends of the Festival to train her staff. About 70 volunteers went through training as well. No cash will be left on-site after the event, she said.

Councilman Yusuf Hakeem, who is also a Bessie Smith Cultural Center board member, said several board members will handle the money.

"[The theft] could have been devastating to the cultural center," Hakeem said. "But various funders have looked at what the board has implemented in terms of guidelines related to the finances. I believe everyone is pleased going forward."

The security is the same as in prior years, including the fence around the event. Since the fence was erected, there have been no arrests during the festival, said Jennings, and because of the added costs for security it's not feasible, at this point, to make the event free again.

"I love the Strut with or without a fence and no matter what you do there will always be opposition," Jennings said.

But local resident Reuben Lawrence says the atmosphere at the Strut has changed since the cultural center took over, and the fence makes attendees feel like they're locked in a prison.

Still, he said, last year he noticed different groups of people enjoying the music and food all together.

"It's one of the things that has brought Chattanooga back to being an integrated city," he said. "It's a different breed and a different time and they have to do some things to make it more secure."

Contact staff writer Joy Lukachick Smith at 423-757-6659 or jsmith@timesfreepress.com.

photo Don Sharp, left, operations supervisor for the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, observes as fence construction crew member Travis Shealey connects a six by 10-foot section Sunday, June 7, 2015, to enclose the venue for Monday.

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