the hum / By Bob Doran

It’s just Reggae (a river runs through it)

(Aug. 2, 2007)  The first weekend in August is upon us. Here in Humboldt, that means just one thing: Yes, it’s time for Wildwood Days! No, just kidding. It means we batten down the hatches for another Reggae, that massive gathering that’s been bringing thousands of visitors to SoHum from far and wide for 23 years.

Most years, I’d spin out a couple of sentences about that special bend in the river, the instant city that’s assembling, the sense of community that building the city engenders in this bastion of counterculture. That won’t fly this time out. This year’s different.

Anthony B. Photo by Bob Doran

GALLERY >

One crucial difference is the name. Locals typically just call the big show Reggae, once short for Reggae on the River, a catchy phrase trademarked in 1998 in the name of the Mateel Community Center Inc., a nonprofit based in Redway. This year Reggae is short for something else, but we’ll come to that later.

First a bit of history: In 1983 an arson fire destroyed the Mateel’s original hall. A committee was formed to raise money to rebuild. Carol Bruno, then a Mateel board member, took charge of a benefit concert dubbed Reggae on the River. She’s been running the festival ever since.

For a time Bruno was also the Mateel’s director. That changed when she formed the for-profit People Productions. Until recently People Productions and the Mateel ostensibly maintained a symbiotic relationship. Things got bumpy when contracts were negotiated — Bruno learned to drive a hard bargain — but as long as the river of cash was flowing, the Mateel seemed happy with her stewardship of Reggae, the nonprofit’s cash cow and most valuable asset. Peace, love and unity prevailed, or at least so it seemed.

As you may or may not recall, Reggae moved last year, not far, just across the river. The transition from the festival’s longtime home at French’s Camp over to the Dimmick Ranch cost a bit of money and there wasn’t much left over for the Mateel. For different reasons, the profit from 2005 had not met expectations either. With the money river at a trickle, the Mateel faced hard times, and in October 2006 an impatient Mateel board and its relatively new executive director, Taunya Stapp, sent out a letter complaining that “the production company for Reggae on the River has failed to deliver…”

Things haven’t quieted down in SoHum since. (See Journal cover story “Clash Over Reggae,” Nov. 16, 2006.) The annual Mateel membership meeting on Nov. 17, proved a turning point. As Tom Dimmick, owner of Dimmick Ranch put it that night, “a line was drawn in the sand,” with Bruno, Dimmick and supporters on one side, Stapp, the Mateel board and supporters on the other. Bruno and company suggested that the Mateel should make a clean break, either leasing or selling the Reggae on the River name to People Productions. Stapp contended that the trademark was too precious to turn over and could be damaged in the process.

By the end of the year Bruno either quit or was fired from her job running Reggae, a task she’s referred to as her “life’s work.” (The courts will eventually decide the firing/quit question and others.)

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