‘Road to Warped' tour set for Scranton theater, needs zoning OK for lot
The show will go on, but maybe only indoors.
Entrepreneur Josh Balz, who has The Road to Warped Tour set for June 12-15 at his Ritz Theater at 222 Wyoming Ave. in downtown Scranton, planned on also using a parking lot across the street as an outdoor venue for the four-day festival.
But he needs to get city zoning approval to use the parking lot for a carnival, vendors and an outdoor stage.
On Thursday, the city zoning board issued a public notice in The Times-Tribune of the board's agenda for a June 4 meeting at City Hall starting at 6 p.m., during which Balz will seek 'a special exception to hold an event in the parking lot with vendors and a live music stage as part of a four-day music and craft gathering event at 245-247.5 Wyoming Ave.'
In a phone interview Friday, Balz — who in April announced the Road to Warped Tour — said he thought he only needed an event permit from the city to use the parking lot for the festival.
'I didn't think I needed zoning approval. I just thought I would need an event permit. So I didn't think it would be this much of a process,' Balz said.
Josh Balz
A zoning board denial of use of the parking lot would significantly hamper his plans and keep everything confined to the approximately 500-seat theater, he said.
'It just creates a nightmare,' Balz said about a possible zoning board denial. 'It (the festival) loses its wonder. It loses its heart,' without an outdoor component. 'It does a whole lot of damage to the situation.'
His festival is an offshoot of the revived Vans Warped Tour, which had been an annual tour from 1995-2019 of up-and-coming and classic punk, emo, hardcore and pop punk music. The Vans Warped Tour had often stopped in Scranton at the Montage Mountain pavilion venue.
Singer Isis Queen of the band Barb Wire Dolls, based in Crete, Greece and Los Angeles, performs in front of the crowd on Monday during the Vans Warped Tour 2017, held at Montage Mountain in Scranton. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)A jammed packed crowd watches the band Chiodos perform during the Vans Warped Tour at the Toyoya Pavilion at Montage in Scranton in 2019. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)Music fans pack the front of the stage as they watch Australian band The Amity Affliction perform on Tuesday during the Vans Warped Tour 2013 held on the grounds of the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
The revived Vans Warped Tour has three main events, with the closest one in Washington, D.C., and that was sold out in April.
The Road to Warped Tour in Scranton is a small stop along the way. Some of the same bands will play both the Ritz and the D.C. festival, which overlap for two days.
It would be the Ritz's biggest event since it opened in its current incarnation last year. Local and rising acts will begin at noon, with headliners later. The performances will be all-ages shows. One-day tickets cost $55 plus fees, and full festival tickets cost $199 plus fees. For information and ticket sales see theritztheater.com.
The Ritz also hosts Noir Dark Spirits restaurant and bar, a goth ice cream parlor, a tattoo shop, a mead bar and a salon.
A new marquee is seen installed on the Ritz Theater in downtown Scranton on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
Balz also hoped to close the 200 block of Wyoming Avenue for the Road to Warped festival, but learned the city required advance notice of at least a year for such a request. The street will stay open during the festival, he said.
The zoning hearing, set for only eight days before the festival starts, puts Balz 'between a rock and a hard place,' he said. The zoning application says Balz would rent the parking lot for the festival.
'We request allowance to hold an event in the approved parking lot featuring a small carnival area by S&S Amusements with vendors and a live music stage as part of a four-day music and craft gathering,' according to the zoning application on file at City Hall. 'This setup will attract both locals and out-of-town visitors, creating a lively and engaging experience that encourages longer stays. By adding these features, the gathering becomes more appealing to guests traveling from outside the region, boosting foot traffic and benefiting local businesses. This event supports Scranton's efforts to revitalize downtown as a vibrant entertainment destination.'
Balz said he worked out an arrangement with the private commercial parking lot, in which he would provide passes to the parking lot patrons to instead use nearby parking garages during the festival.
'I'm just taking a giant gamble. I'm trying to make Scranton proud of what I'm doing. That's where I'm a little disappointed,' Balz said. 'But there are rules and I'm just trying to follow them.'
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