Abbey Road On The River, Louisville, Kentucky, May 24-28, 2007

Help! Beatles fest has a ticket to ride
by John Soeder
Cleveland Plain Dealer

For Abbey Road on the River, the long and winding road leads out of town.

The Beatlemania-themed festival brought thousands of Fab Four fans and dozens of Beatles tribute bands from around the country and abroad to Cleveland for the past three summers.

Next year, however, the event moves to Louisville, Ky., over Memorial Day weekend, May 27-29.

"Louisville is really pumped up about it," said festival founder Gary Jacob of Shaker Heights.

The longtime local promoter and a group of Louisville investors have formed a new company, Abbey Road on the River LLC, to run the event.

They've entered into an agreement with the city of Louisville to relocate the festival there in 2005, with Fifth Third Bank as the title sponsor.

Jacob declined to discuss financial terms of the deal.

"We're excited about it," said Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

"I've been looking for the right Memorial Day event to energize our community and our region," Abramson said. "I'm hopeful Abbey Road on the River will fit the bill."

Despite support for the festival from Cleveland City Hall and the Cleveland Convention Center, corporate sponsorship for the event was difficult to come by here, Jacob said.

"There are too few dollars chasing way too many opportunities in Cleveland now," he said.

The Plain Dealer was the presenting sponsor of the first Abbey Road on the River in 2002 and a media partner in the festival for the past two years.

"I felt Abbey Road on the River was too good of an event to get caught in the crossfire and then die," said Jacob, previously the driving force behind the defunct National Rib Cook-Off.

Over the course of its three-year run in Cleveland, Abbey Road on the River drew an average of 15,000 festivalgoers annually, according to Jacob.

It was held at the Nautica Entertainment Complex in 2002 and 2003 and at Public Hall and Mall B last year.

"In Louisville, I think we'll meet or exceed the attendance we had here," Jacob said.

"We'll be able to grow the event there without as much competition from other entertainment events as we have in Cleveland."

His new partners across the Ohio River have pledged to make Abbey Road on the River "a signature event," Jacob said.

"The Convention and Visitors Bureau here was helpful, but they didn't want to market the festival," he said.

"It was a solid event," said Dennis Roche, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland.

"Perhaps we missed a beat on this one. Cleveland benefited from having it here."

The bureau backed Abbey Road on the River with $10,000 in 2003 and the same amount last year, Jacob said.

"The problem was, the promoter wasn't able to generate widespread financial support to keep it here," Roche said. "The bureau by itself cannot sustain events at a scale to keep them vital year after year. The event has to derive support from other sources if it's going to be successful.

"Hopefully, after a period of time, we'll be able to talk Gary Jacob into bringing the festival back here."

Jacob said he might have one-day Abbey Road on the River spinoffs as early as the summer in other cities, including Cleveland.

As for the full-blown festival, however, Jacob said he believes it has found a permanent home in Louisville for years to come - a sentiment echoed by the mayor there.

"We see this as a long-term commitment," Abramson said.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum backed the first Abbey Road on the River as a marketing partner, then severed ties with the festival.

"It didn't meet our needs, so we elected not to renew the partnership," said Todd Mesek, the Rock Hall's senior director of marketing and communications.

Jacob has lined up a "Magical Mystery Party Bus" to transport Beatles fans from Northeast Ohio to the festival in Louisville next year. Round-trip fare for adults is $75.

For more information, call 216-378-1980 or go to www.abbeyroadontheriver.com.

"I know some Clevelanders are bummed out about the move, as they should be," said Jacob, 55.

"I've lived here my whole life. It's not like I was looking for a reason to do something disrespectful toward the city. But we all have to make a living."

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