Freeman Arts Pavilion — Attraction in Bethany Beach

I love the shows at Freeman Stage, however tonight when we went to the show, we were there early, got our seats, etc. We were seated, relaxed - on the outside left of stage - then a party came with a disabled person - no problem there - he was placed next to us. However, the folks he was with - 5 of them -tried to squeeze themselves in front of us - truly there was not enough room for them. David, the volunteer, was most unfriendly and uncooperative when we questioned how all these folks could fit into this small space. He was incredibly rude. We decided the best thing to do was to move to another area. By this time, of course, there was no space close to where we had been - right behind the reserved section on the left side of the stage. So we had to go way to the back - there was no screen that night - so we knew we would not see the performers that clearly from where we were now. I asked a volunteer, Kathryn, who the volunteer was who was so completely rude - David is his name. Okay -so the end of the story - David was rude. Kathryn was unbelievably fabulous. She came to us a bit later and said she had two seats farther up for us. She gave us reserved seats which were not taken. She was so nice and wonderful about what had happened. All volunteers should be like Kathryn. What a charming and problem solving young lady. So glad she took the initiative as I have spent over $700 for tickets this season and hardly need the treatment we received from David. Perhaps Kathryn can teach him some customer relationship skills. Most...

Our experience was pretty awful.

It seems like the residents of the community are the ones volunteering to work the entire event. When we first got there, one volunteer wasn't paying attention and didn't direct us to the correct parking area so we ended up in an area that was already full. The woman that was working that area was extremely rude to us even after we explained what had happened. It was a very small mistake, we just wanted to park and she had no reason to abuse her authority that way.

Then our group of 8 went to check into the show. We saw the rules and brought our own chairs. One of the girls had a small purse about 6in x 4in and they very rudely told her she couldn't bring it in and that she should have read the rules. A woman directly in front of us walked in with her purse that was larger without a problem. They were supposed to only do pat-downs on our chairs and they insisted on looking through every single crevice.

On top of the problems that were directed to us, the show was overpriced and bad. The sound was awful and we could barely understand anything Jake Owen was saying. The "pods" are pointless and haphazard. There were only two portable bathroom trailers for a crowd of maybe 3500ish people which was ridiculous.

In conclusion, I wouldn't recommend and won't be returning. The volunteers have no reason to be as rude as they were to us and the venue was overall just bad. Wait until Hudson Fields starts having venues again and support...

What a horrible experience. First of all, parking is a mess. Hundreds of cars trying to get in, a sign that says the lot is full and, clearly, it's half-empty. Yes they have a shuttle bus but it was located a mile or two away and there were hundreds of people in line. So I parked in the Harris Teeter lot. I made a purchase (before and after the show) but I suspect that they don't appreciate concert-goers parking in their lot. (For the record: there were lots of open spaces in the shopping center lot.)

Secondly, they have completely inadequate food services. A clear reflection of the poor management of this venue and their disinterest in accommodating their patrons. It was a sold-out show, so there were 4,000 people in attendance. How many food trucks? Four. FOUR! (Oh, right, they have a canteen, too.) Each truck (and the canteen) must've had a hundred people in line, waiting to pay for an overpriced/ripoff sandwich. Seriously, I can't believe that I waited in line for 30 minutes to pay $20 for a lobster roll that had maybe - MAYBE - two tablespoons of filling (was it even real lobster?) on a hot dog bun that came out of a 99-cent package of hot dog rolls. A complete ripoff. I should've raised holy heck but ...

Eh - the outdoor venue is nice on a beautiful evening. Bring a chair, hat, and water. OOOPS - they don't let you bring in water! Instead, they make you buy their ripoff water inside the...