Vanilla Ice to Perform in Texas Despite Surge in Cases
Coronavirus cases continue to surge yet Vanilla Ice is still planning to perform live on July 3 at the Emerald Point Bar & Grill on Lake Travis, just outside of Austin, TX.
Image Credit: Billboard.com
Although there are concerns that the show will bring up numbers of cases even more, the concert venue reports that only 84 tickets had been sold as of Wednesday night. Furthermore, the 2500 occupancy venue stated that maximum capacity for the night will be set at 450.
When asked about the event, here’s what venue owner Barret Brannam had to say. "We're not trying to buck the system — we're going within the guidelines we've been given. Music is part of Emerald Point — and it will always be part of us going forward."
An event promoter also released a statement to the media to inform press that Emerald Point was officially considered a restaurant since 51% of it’s sales are in food. According to current Texas law, that means the establishment is allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Bars in the state have been closed due to spiking numbers.
That being said, local officials are still allowed to shut down outdoor events with more than 100 people in attendance.
Although tickets sales have been low, representatives from the club are saying that people may watch from their boats on the lake.
The venue also stressed that they were taking safety precautions in addition to limiting attendance. Temperatures will be taken at the door and the venue is requesting that guest social distance and wear masks. However, they are not making mask wearing mandatory.
When questioned about not enforcing the wearing of masks, the owner of the club had this to say, “"I'm not their mom and dad, [and] I can't make them do it. At the end of the day, there's still in this country something called personal responsibility."
"We reduced the capacity to 450 people because that's what we thought we could space with tables," he added. "It's really not as gross as people are making it out to be."
Despite backlash, Brannam is dedicated to moving forward with the show, "[Vanilla Ice] has already been paid," he said. "If I cancel the show ... I'm just flushing money down the toilet. ... If only a couple hundred people come out, at least those people got to see a cool show."
Brannon also mentioned that he had 20 of his employees tested last week and all had negative results for the virus.
In the meantime, the pandemic rages on with Texas reporting 8,000 new cases doubling numbers in the last two weeks. We can only hope that the people who attend are able to stay safe.
