Businessman pushes for music festival with audience of 50,000

Gulf Breeze bar owner Scott Wheatley is trying to persuade the Santa Rosa Island Authority that he has the fiscal and promotional might to stage a music festival on Pensacola Beach.

The co-owner of The Bridge Bar and Sunset Lounge, Wheatley is seeking a permit to reserve a swath of Casino Beach for a late October festival.

To be called the De Luna Festival, the concert would feature a yet-to-be-named A-list classic rock band and other supporting acts.

Wheatley plans to launch a regional marketing campaign to attract up to 50,000 music lovers in the 30 to 50 age group at a time when the weather is still great but beach tourism drops off sharply.

"There is not another venue in the area like the beach," said Wheatley, 29. "It dwarfs other venues by five times."

The Amphitheater at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Ala., and the Pensacola Civic Center each can host about 10,000 people, limiting the financial feasibility of booking top-tier entertainers who can fill 25,000-seat stadiums, Wheatley said.

But Wheatley is in a time crunch to secure the SRIA's approval in time to book a crowd-attracting act by fall.

"The A-list artists start marketing their concerts up to six months out," he said. "If we wait months and months, a lot of good people will be booked and the good opportunities will dwindle."

SRIA board members were impressed by Wheatley's conceptual plan, detailed in a PowerPoint presentation last week.

But after mulling over the plan and launching a volley of questions, the board decided Wheatley should provide SRIA staff with more details on how he'd handle parking, traffic, security and other logistical details without affecting the SRIA coffers.

He is answering 20 questions the SRIA wants clarified before it will consider signing off on the concert and placing the permit request on the Feb. 24 committee meeting agenda. If it is OK'd then, it would go before the full board for a vote on March 10.

"It's a big idea, and if he can pull it off it would be a big benefit for the beach businesses," board member Fred Gant said.

Concerts in the sand are not new to Pensacola Beach.

Beach Blast '85, a week of spring break concerts featuring Toto, A-Train, Los Lobos and Del Fuegos, attracted up to 30,000 daily. A crowd 60,000-strong converged on the beach in March 1986 to see Starship and The Outfield. And an estimated 60,000 party animals showed up to hear Bruce Hornsby and the The Range in April 1987.

"Those concerts were very successful for beach businesses," said Jeff Elbert, president of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Elbert said the chamber board has not seen or endorsed Wheatley's plans.

"I admire him for thinking outside of the box," Elbert said. "It's a bold initiative."

Wheatley wants the chamber to partner in the venture if he gets a permit.

He's focused now on convincing the SRIA that his experience in navigating government bureaucracy and logistic hurdles to big projects has prepared him for organizing the concert.

Among those experiences: Successfully opening the first bar in Gulf Breeze last year with brother Nick Wheatley; twice persuading the Gulf Breeze City Council to extend the hours during which alcohol may be served; and booking and promoting bands and events at the bar on a regular basis.

Lee McLaughlin, owner of Lee Tracy, a boutique on Portofino Boardwalk, is one of several beach business owners who supports Wheatley's plan.

"Scott is an amazing person," she said. "He's a go-getter when he sets his mind to doing something."