Venue in Fort Smith, AR Holds First Socially Distant Concert
May 18 was a landmark day for a concert venue in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was the first concert in the venue since the coronavirus shut down all gatherings in March. The venue is called the TempleLive Theater and has a capacity of 1,100 people. That was not the size of the crowd for this first Monday night concert, though.
With the CDC guidelines in place, the 1,100 capacity venue was cut way back to only allowing 229 people to occupy the building, including employees and band members. Concert goers were organized into what the venue is calling pods. These pods were placed in groups no larger than 13 people, and placed away from each other throughout the venue's showroom.
As the fans entered through the line to get in, the floors were marked in six foot increments. They were required to wear face masks, and their temperatures were taken at the door before entering. The bathrooms for the venue were placed out of order, and food to have during the show was in individually-wrapped bags for purchase. It is a big step for live concerts in the future, but there is no telling when we will all pack back into a venue together again.