Updated: "Rave" at Fort Adams Draws Ire

In June, when Fort AQUA got approval to host an event at Fort Adams during Independence Day weekend, the Newport City Council was apparently told that it would be a family-friendly event with water jets, lasers, fireworks and an enclosed beer garden for responsible adults.

But, according to a report by Newport police obtained by the Patch, the event was more like a rave with scores of underage partygoers drinking alcohol, doing drugs and a series of serious problems with the security measures carried out by the promoter, who said Monday that he’s dumbfounded by the backlash and noted there was just one arrest that night.

Police were caught by surprise, having assigned just a handful of officers to handle the front gate on Harrison Avenue and a traffic post nearby with a few officers on foot and bikes for the crowds anticipated for the fireworks display.

The department’s security plans were based on a meeting between police and the promoter, Patrick Brown, who said that the event would be family friendly with local bands in the afternoon, food, and beer in a dedicated beer garden.

“Brown described fascinating water holograms projected from sheets of water fountains that are amazing. Brown also stated there would be a approx.. 15 minute spectacular fireworks display from 9:45 to 10 pm that would be better than the cities display,” the report states.

On the day of the July 3 event, Sgt. Jonathan Cortes, who was commanding the detail, reported that he heard that the event was actually being promoted on social media as a rave.

When he arrived at the venue, Cortes met with DEM’s supervisor at Fort Adams and the two DEM officers assigned to the event. Attendance was low at first, but the crowds began to pick up and by 7:15 p.m., Cortes got a request from DEM Supervisor Bruce Thompson to bring Newport officers into the north lawn venue to assist two DEM officers.

The problem was Newport didn’t have any officers assigned to be inside the venue itself, since it is always usually covered by the DEM and State Police.

Still, Cortes moved two officers and himself into the venue and “found the immediate need to bring in more,” he said.

“The event was listed as 18 and over. There were many young adults who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and or drugs,” Cortes wrote. “Two requested medical attention but left prior to NFD arriving. Numerous patrons were asked to leave by event staff, security and or NPD. Several of these persons sneaked back in, causing problems with security. One individual was chased within the venue and tackled to the ground by security, simply for sneaking in. I informed security this was an inappropriate hands on response and the response was ‘That’s why we have insurance.’

“I then brought in more NPD Officers from their outlying post having a total of eight officers within the venue’s north lawn as it was readily apparent the event could be out of control at any moment. The ‘fenced’ in beer garden was separated by a three foot tall black silt fence used in the construction industry for erosion control. This made it very, very easy to step right over and enter the beer garden as well as simply hand drinks right over the fence to other patrons not of age to drink.”

Meanwhile the water fountain holograms that were supposed to start at 8:30 p.m. came on for just a few minutes before an equipment problem and weren’t fixed until just before 10 p.m., “leaving the main draw of the event operational for only ten minutes before the event was over,” Cortes reported. “The beer garden was also shut down early due to the disorderly behavior of patrons . This left many patrons with previously purchased drink tickets that they were unable to use and many were now extremely upset and complaining wanting refunds. Many other patrons were demanding refunds for the event itself as they felt it was not what was advertised. Many were older couples who brought lawn chairs and were not happy with the event.”

There was one arrest and could have many more, but “[we] exercised great restraint due to the nature of the crowd and number of attendees,” Cortes said. “It is my recommendation that this event not be allowed in the future as it was not what was portrayed in planning and would only become bigger in the future.”

Brown, in an interview Wednesday, said that some of the backlash over the event is a bit frustrating since he never promoted the event as a rave. And he said he’s surprised that there was any surprise about what the event entailed, which was promoted in local newspapers and in commercials that ran on ABC6. He even showed police a video of what the event would look like, he said, and “I went to the Town Council and I whipped out a huge picture of the show.

“It was not a crazy, crazy crowd,” Brown said. “There was just one arrest. There were no people who were transported to the hospital. I hired the same amount of officers for [as] the [Newport] Folk Fest.”

Brown, 23, said there certainly were “hiccups” and that is to be expected for the first-of-its-kind event. He acknowledged the beer garden needs to be a bit larger and more secure. There could be more bathrooms. He could beef up the security plan even more.

Still, Brown said, for something that was pulled together over a three-week period and managed to sell out, it’s dissapointing Fort AQUA is getting such a bad reputation.

“A lot of people didn’t look at the advertising,” he said. “We posted a video with 30,000 views and reached 500,000 people on Facebook. It was clear what it was. We’re getting a negative rap from people who weren’t even looking at the event advertising. There was live music. It was not a rave.”

Brown said the show is also performed in Las Vegas with top DJs and Grammy Award winning artists. And the event raised money for the Fort Adams Trust and provided water to a village in Ghana as part of a campaign that promises to deliver clean water supplies with every ticket purchase.

“It’s not a glowstick party,” he said. “It is different and most people aren’t used to seeing it in Newport. ”We’re saving a village in Ghana, raising money for the Fort Adams Trust and for its first year, there are going to be hiccups.”

Brown has said that he plans to make it bigger and better next year.

“We are planning on bringing some of the largest water effects in the world. It’s going to make Disney’s water effects look small,” Brown was quoted as saying on the localsonly401 blog.

The event reportedly raised $10,000 for the Fort Adams Trust and enabled AQUA to donate four years’ worth of clean water to “an entire Ghanaian village.”

Meanwhile, the Fort Adams Trust is severing ties with Executive Director Richard Nagele, who said that he was told he was let go because he didn’t increase revenues last year, or at least as much as the board had wanted.

The board, which appointed Nagele to lead the trust in 2012, is due to meet Wednesday to go over severance issues.

Photo: Andrew Bottiglieri via AQUA on Facebook.

This story was updated at 12:35 p.m. with comments from Patrick Brown, owner of AQUA.