Wintergrass is leaving Tacoma.

The bluegrass festival’s board of directors voted to uproot the popular event and move to Hyatt Regency Bellevue in 2010 after a 16-year run in Tacoma, directors announced Tuesday.

“I wish it was another way,” Wintergrass director Patrice O’Neill said Tuesday afternoon, audibly choked up as she prepared to break the news to management at Hotel Murano, which has served as ground zero for the event.

“Ultimately, the decision had to be made on what was best for the long-term health of the festival. And that was a tough, tough call,” she said.

Wintergrass organizers began contemplating a move after an estimated 25 percent drop in attendance at the 16th annual festival in February. They cited rising hotel rates, competition from Portland’s River City Bluegrass Festival and a less “jam-friendly” atmosphere at Hotel Murano as factors jeopardizing the event’s future.

The 700-plus-room Hyatt Regency offered the logistical advantage of being able to host up to five stages under its roof by the end of 2010 – allowing Wintergrass to shave thousands of dollars from venue and shuttle rental costs – and significantly discounted room rates for festival guests.

The City of Tacoma, the Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau and local business owners scrambled to put together a counter-proposal last week, hoping to woo Wintergrass back with grant money, discounts and other incentives.

“Things are looking pretty good for Tacoma right now,” O’Neill said late last week. But ultimately contract negotiations with Hotel Murano stalled after its owners responded to Wintergrass demands in an e-mailed reply to a recent News Tribune editorial.

Howard Jacobs of Portland’s Provenance Hotels, the company that owns Hotel Murano, called the hotel rates Wintergrass asked for “economically unsustainable.”

“The Hotel Murano, the City of Tacoma and other constituencies have bent over backwards to meet the demands of Wintergrass, even as those demands change and grow by the hour,” Jacobs wrote.

“It’s time for the editorial board of the Tacoma News Tribune to use its power of persuasion on Wintergrass to support the community that has in turn supported them over decades, instead of asking the city, the Murano and others to lose money for the ‘privilege’ of having them in Tacoma. It’s a privilege we can’t afford.”

O’Neill said Jacobs’ response was influential.

“We don’t want to be a burden,” she said. “Howard said it in black and white. Tacoma can’t afford Wintergrass, and I think he must be right. We believe him. And the Hyatt can.”

She added, “I still think that Tacoma can and should be the home to some very big citywide music event and sincerely hope to be a part of making that happen some time in the near future.”

Wintergrass brought a few thousand bluegrass fans to downtown Tacoma every year to see the likes of David Grisman, Mike Marshall and the SteelDrivers perform on the main stage at Hotel Murano, and the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel before that.

The Varsity Grill hosted a Wintergrass stage in 2008 and 2009; and the festival was such good business that its ownership was willing to waive venue rental fees for 2010.

“It’s our biggest sales weekend of the year, both years in a row,” owner Jon Tartaglia said.

“It’s substantial. It’s a good event. It brings a lot of people down here, and it brings a lot of people that aren’t from this area downtown. It’s a shame.”

Ernest A. Jasmin: 253-274-7389

ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com

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