Reality sets in, stopping Vanilla Ice’s House Party in St. Lucie
May 14th, 2010 by TCPalm.comRob Van Winkle, more commonly known as Vanilla Ice, had hoped to host a house party in Fort Pierce on Saturday night where he and his friends would jump a flaming 1967 Cadillac Fleetwood through a fiery hoop into the middle of a lake.
Every detail was to be filmed for the planned “Vanilla Ice Project” reality show Van Winkle said is set to air in September.
Unfortunately for Van Winkle, reality has set in.
After receiving numerous complaints from the fire and sheriff’s departments and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, St. Lucie County Code Enforcement officials stepped in and stopped the event.
“I’m bummed,” Van Winkle said about the situation. “They don’t want us to do the party. I guess it blew up because we went on the radio. I was expecting it to be about 50 or so people having a good time watching us jump the car. It wasn’t meant to be a crazy rock star party.
“I guess because I’m in the news a lot because of the TV show and the No. 1 song, it became a high profile deal. I’m flattered by the attention, but I’m bummed about it because the car is ready to go.”
According to Dennis Bunt, St. Lucie County Code Enforcement supervisor, the problem started when Van Winkle announced the event on the radio.
“Once they invited people to attend, it became an event and they needed a temporary event permit,” Bunt explained. “We started getting calls from concerned neighbors and people asking us about admission to the event. Then the Sheriff’s Office started calling, asking questions.
“We didn’t set out to end the event. The safety of the people attending was our main concern. In a small county like St. Lucie, there are a lot of people with nothing to do on a Saturday night. We were expecting between 1,000-2,000 people. If they had kept it a private party, it probably wouldn’t have been an issue.”
For Candy Fasnacht and her husband Chris, who own the property where the event was to take place, things just got out of hand.
“Code Enforcement has been getting bombarded with complaints from all the municipalities since the event was announced on the radio,” Candy Fasnacht explained. “My husband offered them our lake to use for the reality show stunt, but that’s when it was just going to be a few friends.
“Once it was on the radio and they mentioned things like ‘bring your own beer,’ now there’s a lot more to worry about, like underage drinking and noise ordinances. I run a business here, I have a name in this community and I have my kids to worry about. There’s no hard feelings though, there just wasn’t enough planning put into this.”
The Vanilla Ice Project reality show is to be a 13-episode series featuring Van Winkle creating a high-tech, environmentally friendly remodel and flip of a 7,000 square-foot mansion in Wellington, Van Winkle said.
According to Van Winkle, the show is 70 percent house and 30 percent lifestyle, featuring episodes like the car jump that was supposed to take place Saturday.
“I just want people to know, the car jump is not canceled, it’s just postponed,” Van Winkle said. “This time, though, when we do it, no one will know about it. Everyone will have to wait and see it on the show.”
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May 14th, 2010 at 8:50 am
His fifteen minutes of fame has passed already. Grow up already will you. You are not in your twenties anymore. You are a forty something year old man still trying to impress the teenagers. That’s lame.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Way to go 95.5….. It was none of your business and look at the mess you made.
May 16th, 2010 at 4:20 am
first to the comment one before me…u must be an ugly old adult who is lacking fun in your life and wish you could be more like vanilla ice….almost forty and still sexy as hell and still can impress the younger generation….hate on him all you want….that jus means your life sucks that much……Rob that sucks..if you ever need to host a party here dont tell anyone…hahahha except people who are invited b/c this town talks…lol….you can get at me if you need to know good spots for parties or to jump anything..we got acres with huge lake.. if not take care Your still the Man….lol
May 19th, 2010 at 8:42 am
[...] Reality sets in, stopping Vanilla Ice’s House Party in St. Lucie | Treasure Coast Talk [...]
June 11th, 2010 at 7:02 am
Thank you for a great post
October 28th, 2010 at 2:46 am
Vanilla Ice… Rocks!!! I was a huge fan of him as a kid. The guy can really do it all. He’s an awsome motocross rider, musician, family man and business man. He’s been through a lot but obviously unlike many celebrities, athletes, and performers he’s got brains!!! Glad to see him still out there doing his thing and achieving success. There are many out there who have not been so lucky… Corey Haim is one great actor that comes to mind.