SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — There's some good news for an upcoming music festival in Downtown Scranton. The city's zoning board gave the green light to have part of the show outdoors.
They're calling the festival The Road to Warped Tour.
It'll be happening along the 200 block of Wyoming Avenue, and event organizers are ecstatic.
It was the thumbs-up Road to Warped Tour Music Festival organizers were hoping for.
The Scranton Zoning Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to allow the Ritz Theater to host part of the show on a pair of outdoor stages.
The big question? Could the festival be run safely? The board agreed the answer was yes.
"It's been a crazy couple of weeks with this, you know, trying to get information, see where it fell, if it fell within the permit of what could be allowed downtown," Scranton Zoning Board Board Member Bob Gattens stated.
"It's been a process and a logistical nightmare, to be honest, because you know, I've done festivals and shows in the past but this is something that is all-encompassing and we have a small team so I think we're gonna pull off something very cool for Scranton," Ritz Theater Owner Josh Balz told 28/22 News.
The four-day festival will kick off on Friday, June 12.
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More than 50 acts will be featured on three separate stages, from punk rock and indie to alternative and heavy metal. Two of these stages will be outdoors, one of them, along with a carnival complete with rides will be in the parking lot across the street.
Balz says he hoped to have the 200 block of Wyoming Avenue shut down for the event, something the zoning board hoped for too, but without approval from the city and PennDOT, they were forced to find an alternative.
"We went back and forth for about a month and judge kind of- he just said there were too many loopholes, too many safety things to be able to shut those down," Balz added.
Balz says instead, barricades will be set up and a crossing guard will be in place to make sure it's safe to cross the street.
But with the speed bumps now in the rear-view mirror, the road to Warped Tour is looking bright. Balz says the event is both a thank you to Scranton and a nod to the local music scene.
"It's cool to be able to give back and give people those opportunities, and it feels good for me. You know it's- selfishly, it's nice to feel like you're helping the community," Balz continued.
Tickets for the four-day festival are still available.
