Saying he doesn't want the region to gain a reputation for inhospitality, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher is asking for an accounting of Blue Ridge Parkway rangers' actions during last week's FloydFest.

"The important point," the congressman said, "is that whatever problems existed do not recur."

Boucher, D-Abingdon, called the annual music festival "a major cultural event that also has a tremendously positive economic impact." He said he decided to join a continuing back-and-forth about traffic enforcement because he wants to see the growth FloydFest has shown in six years of existence continue.

The past two festivals have been dogged by complaints that rangers charged with traffic enforcement along the federal parkway, the access to FloydFest's Patrick County site, targeted festivalgoers for traffic stops and searches.

This year, complaints began soon after an estimated crowd of 10,000 started arriving for the four-day event, which features a mix of local bands and musicians from around the world.

Boucher said his office received so many calls, including one from Floyd County Sheriff Shannon Zeman, who had been pulled over by rangers, that he contacted the parkway's headquarters on Friday to ask what was going on.

With the festival over, Boucher said he wants a report on what happened and a meeting to discuss it.

Speaking from the parkway's headquarters in Asheville, N.C., Assistant Chief Ranger Steve Stinnett said parkway officials will be happy to meet with Boucher.

Stinnett said that from Tuesday to Sunday, rangers logged 182 contacts with drivers along the 14 miles of parkway nearest the festival. He said rangers did not engage in profiling, but stopped vehicles when violations were observed. Most drivers were released with written warnings, he said.

Stinnett called the enforcement not particularly intense and noted that the parkway is several years into a policy of stepped-up policing created to counter an uptick in traffic fatalities. Parkway officials hope a more visible ranger presence will deter drunken driving, speeding and other hazardous practices, Stinnett said.

For FloydFest, the parkway deployed the Criminal Interdiction Team, a five-person unit that draws rangers from districts along its length. The team was created to work events that are too large for a ranger district's usual staff. Though Boucher and some festivalgoers said the unit was pulled back after the festival's first two days, Stinnett said the team actually worked the entire event.

Linda DeVito, a spokeswoman for festival promoters Across the Way productions, said the organization's goal "is to present a music festival that anyone from 2 to 92 is comfortable attending."

She said that after last year's complaints, promoters met with parkway officials and others to try to set up procedures that would both ensure safety and prevent festival-bound drivers from feeling harassed.

Now organizers are "gratified that Congressman Rick Boucher is going to look into this matter with the thoroughness we know he will bring," DeVito said.