Ride on

Barmakian complains about Beach Road Weekend water taxis at 11th hour of festival.

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One of the fleet of Patriot Party Boats. —Courtesy Patriot Party Boats

As Beach Road Weekend kicked off with an outdoor screening of “Jaws” at Tisbury’s Veteran Memorial Park on the evening of August 25, the Oak Bluffs select board held a special meeting to discuss the recent plans made by festival organizers to offer water taxi transport via Patriot Party Boats charters to off-Island eventgoers. 

The one-item agenda, published on the Oak Bluffs website, offered little information regarding the purpose of the meeting other than “discussion and possible vote on changes to Patriot Party Boat schedule — re Beach Road Weekend.”

Stemming from concerns raised by select board vice chair Gail Barmakian, the board heard from Beach Road Weekend organizer Adam Epstein, who was present at the meeting, and was represented by attorney Dan Larkosh, regarding the newly crafted plans.

Barmakian said the use of the Patriot for festivalgoers exceeds its purpose of being a charter boat, and instead would be operating as a shuttle.

This comes after the board refused to make a decision whether to divert the 8:30 pm ferry from Oak Bluffs to Tisbury from August 26 to 28 in order to accommodate the high number of Beach Road Weekend off-Island concertgoers. Instead, the select board kicked the decision back to the Steamship Authority, which had already expressed distaste for the request by Epstein, essentially dismissing the proposal. 

In order to accommodate off-Island ticketholders, Epstein subsequently secured 11 daily time slots with the Patriot charter to allow for reliable transport via water taxi.

Barmakian expressed frustration that she was not informed about Epstein’s alternative plan, and after reading about it in the newspaper, she took it upon herself to “dig up some kind of regulations or Mass. general laws that may apply to this,” mainly, she said, in terms of the oversight and authority of the town.

Larkosh clarified that Epstein did not change the schedule of the Patriot boat; rather, he chartered boats from an existing charter operation. “Anyone can charter a Patriot Party Boat,” he said; Epstein did to provide a safe exodus off the Island for festivalgoers. 

In response to Barmakian’s claim that Epstein securing the charter for ticketholders is “unprecedented,” Larkosh responded that requiring someone who has hired boats through an existing charter business to ask permission from the select board is unprecedented. 

Despite seeking out concerns by O.B. Marina officials, Barmakian was told by harbor advisory committee chair Mike Santoro that the Patriot operation is open to reservations, as there is no mechanism in place to prevent the boats being used for Beach Road Weekend goers. 

Barmakian asked if Epstein would cut boats from the schedule. Larkosh said Epstein will consider the suggestion for next year, as no chartered Patriot boat is currently without reservation. 

Epstein and Larkosh said that 140 people had already reserved seats on the 11 boats that were scheduled to leave Oak Bluffs after each event day, operating between 8:45 pm and 1 am.

Barmakian’s last-minute suggestion that Epstein be responsible for $200 per Patriot trip to go to the town as mooring fees received no support. 

Larkosh said the request is “not appropriate,” and was seconded by Packish, who questioned Barmakian why the board would want to “shake down” festivalgoers who are visiting and spending money on the Island. 

Barmakian continued, highlighting last-minute safety concerns, to which Larkosh reiterated that Epstein is more than willing to work with the town in any way possible, and provide any extra safety officers needed. 

Ultimately the board voted 2-0, with Barmakian abstaining, to approve the already-laid-out plans for the event, with the understanding that Epstein would provide two additional safety officers to the Patriot vicinity as eventgoers embarked. 

24 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you Gail Barmakian. And to the Tisbury SelectBoard please shut this event off. Why do we Islanders have to be subjected to feeding the greed of Mr. Epstein? The entire island suffers the effects.

    • Susan– we often agree on issues, and I appreciate you thoughtful comments.
      However, I have to wonder why you feel the need to personally attack an entrepreneur who is providing an apparently popular musical festival on an island that is not only dependent on tourism but clearly encourages it.
      This event obviously attracts a large number of people ( day trippers if you will) to the island for a few days of entertainment that they are willing to pay for . They will obviously spend money and support our tourist based economy with collateral spending.
      As far as I can tell ,Mr. Epstein has made a serious effort to keep this event as safe and as minimally disruptive as possible.
      Let me also remind you , Susan, of the bigger picture of the capitalist society we live in.
      Invest money, make money. Greed is encouraged–
      I don’t fault Mr Epstein for making money. That’s the American dream after all.
      And I feel he is doing it in a responsible and legally approved way.

      • Well said, Don Keller. Mr. Epstein has a well put together a well organized festival and is obviously doing everything he can to accommodate the large crowds so not to negatively impact the island. Judging from the number of people waiting for tables at the VH restaurants after the event last night, the town is greatly benefiting from this event. What a waste of Gail Barmakian time. Doesn’t she have more important issues to work on?

      • I hear you Don. And Mr. Epstein has every right to pursue his goals. My issue is that he doesn’t appear to truly respect or understand the impact of his actions. And I know our society encourages greed. And perhaps I’m being a dreamer here but if capitalists, one by one, started behaving with more compassion and less greed it would go a long way towards improving our world. It’s the old adage of just because others do it we don’t have to. Baby steps toward change.

        • This island has baby stepped right into a housing crisis and the closing of every live music venue that made mv a vital music community.

          If I had a nickel for every conversation I’ve had where people reminisce about the Roof, AC or Mooncusser, No Nukes, And Livestock, etc, I’d be able to break even on the festival.

          All the good things we’ve let leave us in the name of stopping change.

          Losing community gatherings is not a good thing. Togetherness is valuable. Dancing and singling along is valuable.

          Why do your posts always descend to baseless and toxic allegations of greed?

          You have no evidence of it and should be careful if you expect the golden rule to apply.

      • Don, I don’t think I attacked him personally. I wrote of the greed. I respectfully disagree that he has made serious efforts towards being minimally invasive. Sadly I know of our capitalist society, you’re right greed is encouraged. My idealistic hope and belief is that just because something is encouraged it doesn’t have to be bought into.

        • Susan–“Why do we Islanders have to be subjected to feeding the greed of Mr. Epstein?”
          sounds pretty personal to me, since you specifically named him.
          But, I think we agree on the bigger picture– greed is indeed encouraged in our society. It is the de facto force that drives the insanity that may drive us to a suicidal extinction. It is a serious problem for every living thing on this planet. It would benefit all of humanity, and natural eco systems if we could somehow dis incentivize the financial motivation to completely disregard any consideration of anything other than the “self” .
          I mean no disrespect to you..
          We are on the same side…
          Peace, love and Pasta…

        • Susan, what evidence do you have when you make accusations of “greed?”

          As a 501-c3, the Friends of the MV Concert Series, publicly filed its taxes.

          When you see them, you’ll see that greed is the furthest thing from anyones mjnds with the festival.

          I know it’s convenient to resort to sentiments like yours because they arm you and your companions with something ugly to attempt to hang around our necks, but the truth is better.

          You really should try to learn more about the mission and what giving the FOMVCS does to support the islands arts community, even before it generates a surplus.

          Additionally, to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, the entire staff of the FOMVCS works for free. Not a single individual draws a salary or any compensation.

          You don’t have to believe me to know that we are on the right side of this cause and I cannot accept your false allegations of greed.

          We simply do it because we love it, and it makes my staff, thousands of island residents, hundreds of businesses, and thousands of visitors to MV happy.

    • A majority of Islanders may be inclined to attend this type of event.
      Is that reason enough to shut it down?
      What do you think that the majority of the taxpayers want?
      Those dreaded seasonal residents that winter in Florida?

    • speak for yourself…..half of the island was there enjoying the music…. and Adam isnt any greedier than the others that live here…. i wish people could just stop being so ugly to each other…. greed…. more like GREEN…. with envy!

    • The entire Island lives off the greed of July and August.
      It is what makes January and February possible.

      • You can repeat the falsehood that “the entire Island lives off the greed of July and August” as often as you like, and it will still be untrue. There are many good people, like teachers, plumbers, police, nurses, cashiers, mechanics, retirees, etc who do not engage in the greed that you find acceptable just because many people engage in it. The island used to be more self-sufficient and reliant, but greed has taken over. The island needs a 3 day music circus in August like we need a hole in the head. Next thing you know we’ll be told we need a housing bank. No off-island dollar shall go unwanted into the pockets of greedy, short-sighted islanders.

    • What percentage of ticket holders will be day trippers?
      The whole Island lives off of July and August greed.
      $32 hamburgers make January and February possible.

  2. The island of NO strikes again. How do these people get elected and then look for away to say NO to everything.

  3. What a waste of time for the selectmen of the town of Oak Bluffs! Doesn’t Gail remember years ago when people going to Illumination Night had no way to leave the Island afterwards and it ended up with multiple people being arrested and creating general chaos and destruction? It seems that Epstein is doing everything possible to accommodate the crowds that are here for an amazing festival!

  4. In my admittedly personal opinion, Beach Road Weekend is a fantastic boon for music lovers and musicians, and a party for regular people, not just the wealthiest members or visitors. Given Mr. Epstein’s use of Island volunteers, vendors, law enforcement, and his willingness to give back to the community and provide local businesses owners and staff with discounted tickets (per the Fall $99 initiative last year), I really do not feel like this is about greed whatsoever. God, I would take Beach Road weekend over some of the wildly extravagant private and exclusive social events here hosted by people who have flown in personal staff, and everything else, providing no benefit to Island businesses, etc. any day. Today, I saw countless concert-going people walking over to Main Street to buy coffee and/or shop, and well, to me, that is always a good thing. Just one opinion, but really. Now, if only all the other brutal things like housing, etc. could be solved.

  5. The only way to fix the housing problem is a free market economy.
    Charge what the market will bear.
    Anything less is pure Socialism bordering on Communism.

  6. Interesting that Barmakian whines and moans about the Beach Rd Festival, while the Oak Bluffs Selectmen have yet again signed those moped licenses to wreak upon MV yet another season of death and injury.
    She has no moral authority whatsoever to speak on the citizens peacefully assembled to hear live music.

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