Freestyle Music Park's Board of Directors held an international teleconference that lasted several hours Wednesday. All the park's spokesperson would say about it is that there will be good news coming soon for vendors.
Those vendors include members of one local band, who have been waiting a long time to get paid. A Florence group called "Crow Jayne" signed a contract to play about 30 gigs at Freestyle this summer.
Band member Scott Hutson says Freestyle often fell behind on paying the group and still owes them $2,200. He says he's called the park's finance department many times seeking payment, and all he gets is a voicemail recording. "We haven't gone down the legal path, although I've spoken to a couple of attorneys, but we're trying to give them the chance to do the right thing."
Hutson says his group isn't sure it's worth the effort or expense of suing the park. But the frustration is building. and for two of the group's members, performing doesn't just provide extra pocket money.
It's their sole means of making a living. "We got families, we got bills, we went down, we performed the job, we're working, we need the money," Hutson said.
Hutson says his group also performed at the park last year, when it was still Hard Rock Park. Ironically, though the previous owners went broke, Hutson's group didn't have as much trouble getting paid from them. "They paid us late a few times, but it never got to this point."
After we recorded that interview, Hutson called me to say that he got a phone call from the park's president, who told him the park has a new investor who's ready to put more money into the park.
He said Hutson's group will be paid in full soon. We don't have any official confirmation of that from the park, but I'm told we should find out more before the end of this week.
To date, at least nine lawsuits are pending against Freestyle for unpaid bills.
