Mayor Arceneaux has announced that the Humor and Harmony Festival (HHF) will return in March of next year. Although last year's festival was touted as a great success by its promoter Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and the mayor, many question the overall net impact to the City of Shreveport.
It’s an understatement to say that the true cost of city services provided to the HHF were grossly understated. City workers from virtually every department were involved in providing both pre and post festival services that benefited the festival and were either not billed, or underbilled, to Jackson. This should not happen again.
The Red River District was virtually turned into a " buy dope and smoke it here zone" during the festival. Many, if not all, of the vendors in the district, that included a portion of Commerce Street, did not pull permits nor pay sales taxes. These issues should be better addressed by authorities in the next festival. How the open smoking of dope in public areas is handled is a policy issue for the Administration that is/was precedent setting and one that should be approved by the Shreveport City Council.
The rental of public facilities--Independence Stadium, Municipal Auditorium, the Convention Center and Festival Plaza--was questioned as to whether or not regular "market" rates were charged to Jackson. More transparency in the rental agreements should be provided without the necessity of public records requests.
Traffic issues on Texas and Spring Street near the dome adversely affected local businesses in that area. How this negative impact can be mitigated is an issue that should be publicly discussed with those business operators. Additionally, consideration should be considered to requiring alternate routes like the parkway to access the dome.
Since the 2024 festival Jackson has acquired many properties on Texas Street and Spring Street near the vicinity of the parking lot utilized for the dome. If any of these are to be utilized for HHF events, certificates of occupancy or other appropriate permits should be required before the use of any of these properties other than the parking lots.
Jackson/HHF was delinquent in payment to many law enforcement officers who worked during the festival in their off time. Measures should be taken to ensure that this does not occur again. Additionally rental agreements of public facilities should include stipulations on required security measures that should be based upon the expected attendance.
It is reported that the 2026 HHF will utilize Independence Stadium for some events, which will provide more seating, parking and concession areas. In 2024 events planned for the stadium were shifted to Municipal Auditorium due to the heat. Many who purchased tickets online for the stadium events had difficulties in getting reissued tickets for Municipal Auditorium. March weather in Shreveport is highly unpredictable and this contingency of moving to other venues and ticket re-issuance should be addressed beforehand.
This festival is not sponsored/presented by a non-profit entity like the Revel, Mudbug Madness, Chili Cookoff etc. The rental rates and the regular city services provided to these events as part of sponsorship by the City of Shreveport should not be extended to HHF. Whether or not Jackson realizes a net profit on his festival should not be a factor in pricing rental rates for city facilities and charges for all city services provided to and in conjunction with the festival.
At the first festival Jackson was virtually given a key to the city to plan whatever and wherever he wanted to conduct events with very little restrictions. This time around many guardrails should be put in place to ensure that Shreveport gains a measurable benefit from the festival other than social media posts of dancing semi-nude women and dope smoking.