HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Over 40,000 people flocked to Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington Saturday evening for one of, if not the most anticipated concert in the city’s history.
Zach Bryan, a folk/country singer who has totaled over nine billion streams on Spotify in his career, announced he would be coming to Marshall’s football stadium back in March. One of the members of Bryan’s band is a Marshall graduate.
Huntington Chief of Police Phil Watkins said before the concert on MetroNews Midday that the department had been working on both traffic and public safety plans for months leading up to the concert. Part of the traffic plan was to have officers’ direct traffic at many lights around the stadium.
“We wanted to make sure people could focus on the event, and to do that, people have to feel safe,” Watkins told MetroNews Tuesday. “We really had a large police presence both inside the stadium and outside the stadium. We didn’t have any major incidents, so therefore, it just shows the officer presence paid off. People were safe. They felt safe and they were able to keep their focus on the concert and just enjoy a beautiful Saturday night in Huntington.”
Watkins says Saturday night was an all-around success that took more than just the police department to pull off.
“This wasn’t just a Huntington Police Department endeavor. This was the law enforcement, EMS, the fire department, all the folks at Marshall and the event staff. It was a really big collaboration that came together, and we had an amazing event,” Watkins said.
“It proves that Huntington can host these types of events, and I’m looking forward to the next one already,” he continued.
For Watkins and his staff, Saturday will be a day will go back to if and when the next big artist comes to town.
“The success from Saturday with Zach Bryan, it’s kind of the roadmap,” Watkins said. “We’ve worked a lot of big football games over the years, but this took it to the next level.”
Bryan and his crew put Huntington and Joan C. Edwards Stadium on a national stage with the concert, and Watkins says more acts will follow.
“He provided us with an opportunity to really showcase what Huntington is capable of and, to be frank, as a community, we didn’t miss that opportunity. We made the most of it,” Watkins said. “With all the positive feedback that has come from this, I can’t imagine a scenario where some other big names around the world don’t look at this and say, ‘Hey, we can trust them in Huntington to pull this off.”