News

Camps, Playhouse wary of HB2 effect

By Bill Moss, Published: May 17, 2016

While the 2016 summer camp season is shaping up as a good one, some camp owners have concerns that HB2 over the long run could cut camp attendance.

The state law blocked an ordinance the Charlotte City Council adopted in February allowing transgender people to use public restrooms based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex at birth. Since then, some entertainers have canceled shows and some companies have called off plans for business expansion.
Supporters of HB2 say the opponents are misleading the public on what the bill does in an effort to make North Carolina an example. In any case, House Bill 2 appears to have secured a place in the national discussion and the presidential campaign.
“I want to assure the people of our state and our country North Carolina has long-held traditions of ensuring equality,” Gov. Pat McCrory said Monday in defending the bill and announcing the state’s lawsuit asking a federal judge to declare it valid.
At last week’s Camp Field Day, a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored celebration of the summer camp industry, camp owners were generally optimistic about the 2016 season and beyond and had seen little impact from HB2.
“I think most camps are back to — I won’t say pre-recession, but it’s close,” said Fair Waggoner, city executive of United Commercial Bank and one of the founders of Camp Field Day.

‘Will state repeal HB2?’

But John Dockendorf, the owner of Camp Pinnacle, said he is starting to get questions about the law.
“It seems that the people that don’t like the bill are the people that are getting hit,” he said. “The city of Charlotte lost Pay Pal and they’re the ones that started the whole thing.”
Dockendorf said he took a call from one prospective wedding planner who asked: “Do you think the law will be repealed by then because I know my friends from California don’t like it.”
“We have three weddings on our books from California this summer,” he said. Legislators and supporters of the law “may not understand that the mindset of a San Francisco is very different than a small town in North Carolina,” he said. “There’s a certain group of people where it’s really cool to say, ‘Oh I don’t go to North Carolina’” because of HB2. “At Pinnacle our goal is to really be a international camp. We have campers from 30-something states and 16 foreign countries. China is busting the door to get in.”
He said it’s possible that summer camp shoppers uncomfortable with the HB2 controversy may simply cross North Carolina camps off their list.
“My sense is that our leads from New England are way off,” Dockendorf said. “I would imagine we’ll have some first-time camp families that will say, ‘Oh, we’ll go to Maine or Massachusetts. We won’t go to North Carolina’ — when we all know North Carolina is where they want to send their kids.”
Dockendorf says he’s not as worried about repeat campers because they’re from families who have long known him and his staff and the Camp Pinnacle experience.
“They’re not going to cancel because they like us, we work together and they know we don’t support the bill,” he said. If the phone stops ringing and the Facebook hits drop, he said, no one will know if it’s because of HB2.
“We certainly are an attractive destination for California and the north,” he said. “We could fill our events from the South but you hate for half your business to rule you out because of government policies. It’s not helping us. It’s not going to knock us out of business or anything.”

Popular musicals off the table

Lisa K. Bryant, the creative artistic director of the Flat Rock Playhouse, said the main impact professional theaters have seen is the decision by one prominent show creator to pull his shows.
Stephen Schwartz, the creator of the hit Broadway musicals Godspell, Children of Eden, Wicked and Pippin among others, “has told his licensing his company — and they have supported him — that he does not want any of his shows licensed to any theater in the state of North Carolina,” Bryant said. “So, for instance, in 2017 if we wanted to do anything by him, as of right now we would not be able to. So far, fortunately, no other writers have made such a statement, at least not that we know about it. But if any others were to follow through that would really put us in a bad place. We would not be able to produce a season if other writers pulled their work out of the state of North Carolina.”
She’s made the Playhouse Board of Trustees aware of the theater community’s reactions to HB2. So far the board has not taken a position.
“It’s really been more of an education process for them as well,” she said. “When Stephen Schwartz made that announcement it was a really really big deal — it’s still a big deal — among the arts community throughout the state. I shared a couple of links to articles just to let them know what was out there and what the conversation was. We’re waiting to see what other news is coming out.”
She said she’s had no communication with either the local Tourism Development Authority or legislators. And she doesn’t expect any cast members to pull out of their commitments to perform in Flat Rock this summer.
“They’re hungry,” she says of the actors. “They’ve got to eat and pay bills. It’s the upper tier people like the Bruce Springsteens and the Cirque Du Soleils — the large companies and large entertainers — that can essentially afford to cancel something. Fortunately, our artists need the work as much as we need them. We haven’t run into any issues there.”
When Bryant was asked whether, as the creative artistic director of the State Theatre of North Carolina, she had a position on HB2, she said: “Not at this time. Not on the record.”

Repeal? 'Absolutely not'

Although House Bill 2 was on the agenda for the public policy committee of the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce last month, the committee ran out of time to discuss it in detail and it took no position, said Bob Williford, the chamber’s president.
“We need more information,” he said. The members said, “Let’s give the Legislature more time. We don’t know enough about it to decide.”
As for reaction from businesses “not a whole lot” has come up, he added. “Most of what we do is work with businesses inside the community. We’re not the first point of contact for tourists or businesses looking to relocate.”
Summer camps, the Playhouse and other tourism destinations may have to live with HB2 for a while.
Rep. Chris Whitmire, like most of the Republican caucus, sees no reason to repeal or amend the law.
“I think we did the right thing,” he said the Transylvania County Republican. “This was such a blatant end-around of the entire legislative state law process by the city of Charlotte that had we not done something we would be derelict.
“What the letter that came last week to the UNC system is basically saying is ‘we’re directing you to violate federal laws by doing X, Y and Z.’ At the end of the day, the Obama administration continues to try to redefine the ideals of Western civilization … Unfortunately we’ve got to fight the fight. Do I have any desire to do an about-face on HB2? Absolutely not.”