About 50 Tisbury and Island residents gathered at the town’s senior center late Thursday afternoon to express their thoughts on the Beach Road Weekend, a three-day music festival held in August. Unlike the praise-fest that festival promoter Adam Epstein enjoyed at an October select board meeting, when business leaders and concertgoers provided feedback to the select board, comments from folks at the senior center, several of whom were abutters to Veterans Memorial Park, were critical. Much of the criticism revolved around the negative impacts from the concert’s acoustics. However, public safety, waste, revenue loss, and liability issues were also raised.
Epstein, after hearing the criticism, said he’s always trying to improve, and also said he is willing to amend his contract with the town, which is in force for two more years.
Gretchen Snyder, who lives on Lagoon Pond Road, told the board, Epstein, and other officials she wanted to see soundproofing because, she said, “my house shakes.”
“My house shook too,” Eric Poeler said. Poeler, who lives on Cook Road, suggested that with a “harmonic system,” sound from the festival could be better managed. “Now, it’s expensive, but it can be done,” Poeler said.
Martha Yukovich, who lives on William Street, said she wasn’t around for the concert “because I knew I couldn’t stand it.” Yukovich said she and her husband left the Vineyard and came back to what she described as “enormous complaints” on William Street. Yukovich said their next-door neighbors told them “their whole house shook and rattled — vibrated for three days in a row.” Yukovich said one of that couple has serious medical problems that the concert somehow impacted negatively, and another neighbor “said every picture in their house was sideways from the rattling.”
Town moderator Deborah Medders, who lives on State Road and spoke in an unofficial capacity, started off by saying she loves music, and comes from a family of musicians. Medders said she believed along with herself, Tisbury taxpayers want to support events that benefit Tisbury’s businesses.
“Because as they benefit, we as residential property taxpayers — we benefit,” Medders said.
Medders said the nine-acre park is ill-suited to be the location for the festival, especially in the event of an emergency.
“Within the nine acres, there are five-plus acres of usable land known as the playing fields and playground,” Medders said. “For this year’s event, four sides of that five acres [were] surrounded by structures, gated entrance[s], porta-potties, vendor booths, two-story seating, stages and screens, [and a] two-story operational tower for sound and visual equipment.” Medders said in the center of all this “is another two-story wooden seating area, with stage and sound equipment behind it.” Altogether, the structures reduced the area to three acres, Medders said, and made for what was no longer an open space — ”it’s bifurcated by structures in the center.”
Medders then said of the four entrances and exits, which have various widths and illumination, two were unidentified and also obstructed.
After giving her description of the venue, Medders asked the board to envision “10,000-plus” people in a “panic situation” trying to flee.
Medders noted those people fleeing faced narrow streets, wetlands, and structures. She also noted emergency vehicles could have a challenging time getting to the scene if met with thousands of fleeing people.
Last, Medders said that the event presents legal liability for the town.
Jessica Tartell, director of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services’ Chicken Alley Thrift Shop, said two days of closure due to the music festival costs the shop about $20,000 in sales. Tartell said the shop can’t take donations during those days, and it’s too loud to be in the shop. “We lost several paintings that fell off the walls due to the vibrations of the concert,” Tartell said. She also said, “There’s a lot of ambiguity about when the road is closed.” Tartell said her staff and volunteers got “a number” of road passes, but not enough of them. Tartell said the parking lot at the park was closed too long, and she noted that a “great number” of Chicken Alley customers use that lot.
Tartell said the Lagoon Pond closure lasted much longer than was predicted. She said concertgoers parked bicycles at Chicken Alley, despite no-trespassing signs and fencing.
“We are very much in opposition to this concert,” she said.
Ben Robinson, who has an office close to the park, said part of the restoration process of the grass after the festival included an application of topsoil. Robinson said it rained soon after the topsoil was applied, and he later found bits of glass revealed by the rain. He held up a shard of glass for the board to see. Robinson argued the Field Fund previously did a better job maintaining the grass, and its work was free.
Epstein and his landscape contractor, in emails to the town, have denied that topsoil used had glass in it. Epstein also noted that no glass containers were allowed at the event.
Not everybody had something critical to say about the festival. One person was critical of those who expressed criticisms. Chef Ben DeForest, who participated in the festival, described many of the complaints he’s heard as “not in my backyard” issues.
“Anybody who’s complaining about this who has been to a Celtics game, who has been to Fenway Park, that’s been to Gillette, who has been to a concert, who has been to a county fair somewhere, who’s been to some large event in another place, they’re guilty of the same thing that they’re accusing others of doing. You’ve gone somewhere else to see an event. It’s Vineyard Haven’s turn. It’s a great event done with incredible detail.”
Kim Hilliard of Oak Bluffs complimented Epstein, saying, “What you’ve pulled off, sir, was amazing, amazing. I don’t know how you did it, but you did it. You pulled it off.”
Hilliard said she had trouble with the scale, location, and municipal burdens of the festival and also with the sonic impact of it. She said she was driving, and at one point caught in traffic, in Vineyard Haven when Beck was on stage. She described the sound as inescapable.
“I rolled up my windows,” she said. “There was no escaping it. My car was vibrating. The ground was vibrating.” She said she developed a headache that lasted three days.
Laurie David characterized the festival as having an unacceptable fuel and carbon footprint and an unacceptable waste footprint.
In a previous interview with The Times, Epstein acknowledged that the festival can and should do better with recycling, and vowed to make improvements.
Town administrator Jay Grande said “no event goes perfectly,” and acknowledged that “issues and concerns” have been raised, and that the town takes “very seriously.” He went on to say, “We can’t not address them, and keep moving forward like we didn’t hear them.”
“I don’t hide from things and I’m not perfect,” Epstein said. “We are all always trying to improve. We’re always noticing and hearing where we fall short. But you never get it right and perfect the first time, but you can get better with experience. And we want the opportunity to continue to improve, to reduce that footprint, to improve the sound, to improve the condition of the field, to be a part of those processes, and to involve you all in those processes. I am not perfect, and I need your feedback in order to reach that level.”
Select board member John Cahill suggested that what the audience wanted to know is what the next steps will be. Grande said the festival promoter must address the festival’s operational and land-use issues. Grande said he expected Epstein, who was given a three-year contract by the town ahead of this year’s festival, to have a conversation with the town’s department heads and to address the issues brought forth, and then bring something back to the select board.
Grande said the board is going to then have to weigh the pros and cons of the festival and its occurrence on public land.
Grande said he felt it was important that the select board meet on the issue before the end of the calendar year (as opposed to the fiscal year).
“I assure you that everything that was said tonight was heard,” select board chair Roy Cutrer said.
How mamy dollars did the concert bring to the Island?
Too many to prioritize quality of life in a residential neighborhood. Money always wins. Greed pays.
I think it’s a partially good question.
If a large sum of money is generated and dedicated to island initiatives that prioritize affordable housing, teacher salary support, drug abuse and addiction counseling etc would more of us be supportive ? While abutters and local businesses would still be inconvenienced, perhaps if there were tangible BENEFITS to island initiatives, more would be accepting ?
Can there not be some compromise here ?
You mean from non islanders attending the 3 day event ? Please try to be clear.
It shouldn’t be only about dollars brought in. There’s a difference between enough and greed.
This is the final determination, huh, Albert? Whether it stays or it goes?
How about having a little compassion for the people in the neighborhood. Couldn’t they easily move the event to the high school? There would be more room, more parking and less disturbance. Sure they’d have to change the name but…it isn’t really on Beach Road now is it?
Where is the compassion for residents of Ocean Park for the Fireworks?
All the noise, trash and rude people.
And money from non Islanders.
A ridiculous comparison, and what I expect from you anyway. The fireworks are a one night event and even with the setup time the amount of disruption and inconvenience to area residents is nothing compared to what the folks in VH endure for the week of the Beach Road event.
Do you even stop to consider the things you write before hitting the “enter” button?
If there was a like button for your comment, Jim, I’d use it.
Had I known I would have been there, and thanks to all who did go and speak up. The noise where we live 1/2 mile away echos off the house next door causing constant reverbarations. Our lovely public park in closed to the public for two weeks. By the end of August many of us are so tired of crowds, noise, and traffic. The adjacent marsh is full of wildlife and ospreys nest on the resident light pole, and the cacaphony totally disrupts their world. Let me know if there is another meeting coming up, and thanks again.
If you are tired of crowds, noise and traffic why do you Summer on the Island?
We live here year round.
Money isn’t everything we all know that and that’s why I live here
They got it right at Woodstock, because the only complaints came from the cows. Seriously though, did any of the concert folks actually speak to abutters? The idea that a small population of people should simply put up with three days of musical performances may not be well thought out. After all, how many concert goers camped out for all 72 hours, without ever leaving the venue? Because that’s what is expected of people who live in the area. Is there a big enough field up island where this would have a smaller impact? Worth a thought at least.
Woodstock was one and done.
The locals made sure of that.
All those filthy naked hippies high on drugs and having sex was not going to happen again.
Actually they did a Woodstock ‘99, but it was in a different place. It was very dangerous. Sort of a wort case scenario of festivals… great documentary about it on Netflix.
Right from the outset, I said this was a poor choice as far as location goes. The abutters and the folks at Chicken Alley should not have to sacrifice revenue or peace and quiet to accomodate this event.
The suggestion of using a “harmonic system” (whatever the hell that is) is utterly ridiculous. Modern concert audio systems utilize a heavy emphasis on low frequency content. There is no way to mitigate the sound levels in the sub bass spectrum as they travel the longest distance and actually couple physically to the ground and nearby objects.
Having an event of this scale in that location was a bad idea from the start. Move it out of town.
Understood the festival generates significant noise at concert decibel levels over the course of a “weekend”. The current venue for the festival is located in the B-1 District, behind Cumberland Farms and the Post Office. The festival abuts the waterfront commercial district. The surrounding homes are also in the B-1 district. It is an occasional event. It isn’t unreasonable to ask these homeowners to adapt. The present site is more appropriate for this type of event than a rural agricultural area or other environmentally sensitive site.
The present site is a totally bad location for a number of reasons.
No other commercial operation in the B1 district generates the amount of noise and traffic that this event creates.
I never said the event should be in an agricultural area. Nice logical fallacy.
The Gazette reports that Ben deForest had “some involvement” with the festival and then had to be asked to sit down so residents could speak. What a shameless conflict of interest.
Should only residents have been allowed to speak?
There are more non resident tax payers than resident.
This was a meeting specifically held for the neighbors to publicly voice their concerns on the matter, Al. Try to focus and actually read and understand the articles you comment so frequently and inappropriately on.
Why does Jackey feel the need to respond to inappropriate comments?
I would be hard pressed to comment as often as Jackie.
Appropriatness is in the eye of the beholder.
Just look at the negative responses to some of your comments.
It was a public meeting, all had the right to speak
Not just the folks from the Elvis Generation.
The pictures spoke a thousand words.
I see the island of NO is coming out Strong. Someone finds a piece of glass in a 9 acre park let’s shut down the whole island. All we know the glass could’ve been there for years every rainstorm brings up new features from below. 10,000 people have a lifetime experience and a memorable event and a few neighbors selfishly want to stop it all. The neighbors have a whole year to prepare for the event nothing was a surprise please learn how to adjust. I have lived next door to world events like this and learned to cope. It is not without sympathy as I have been there but take an idea from someone who decided just to leave during the event. To have a handful of people complaining and try to stop the joy for 10,000 does not seem correct.
The MV Times has basically shilled for this event from the get-go in both its editorial pages and its “neutral reporting.”
Surprise, surprise, not everyone is as enthusiastic as the Times!
Finally the not-so-enthusiastic get the floor.
Mr. Murphy: The meeting was called to give an opportunity for feedback on the event, Too bad you think this is the spot to give your personal negative feedback on your fellow citizens.
If I had known about the meeting I would have attended.
I agree with the comments of Vasha Brunelle.
This event is disruptive and in the wrong place.
It was foolish for Tisbury sign a three-year deal with Mr. Epstein (the scuttlebutt I heard was that Mr. Epstein actually wanted the use of our town and park for free and only grudgingly agreed to pay the town $25,000).
The negative impacts have not to my knowledge been comprehensively assessed.
Not only dollar figures for extra police duties and cleanup, but noise, disruption, damage to and “fencing off” of our downtown park and the bikepath that goes around it for two weeks. I was told that the Thrift Shop—Community Services—lost an estimated $15,000/day it had to be shut down because a public thoroughfare, Lagoon Pond Road, was similarly “fenced off.” These and other known issues not listed here are unacceptable intrusions into the town’s life.
Take this rock festival elsewhere.
You must have missed our editorial calling for this very meeting, and not one but two stories announcing this forum as much as 2 weeks ahead of it.
We’re those stories behind your pay wall? Just sayin’.
I agree with you, Katherine. This newspaper printed article after article about this festival, clearly in favor. I once counted how many articles (free advertising) there were on BRW, articles that started appearing in May of this year, and compared it to the number of articles about the Ag Fair, fireworks, and Illumination Night. No contest! It’s been the same with the housing bank coverage— very pro. Gazette coverage has been more balanced. (Sorry, George, but it’s true. You all did a more thorough job by frequently paying attention to different positive aspects of the coming festival, not entirely ignoring the negative objections, but paying relatively scant attention to legitimate concerns. Even in this article, the author talks about Ben deForest speaking in favor of BRW at the meeting, but failed to mention that he, Ben deF, admitted at the meeting he was involved with the festival and then had to be asked to sit down to let the neighbors speak. That’s distorting the bigger picture, and contributes to the sense that greed and self-interest guides this festival.)
I’ll be surprised if this comment doesn’t get “moderated”, but I t’s obvious this paper has been very pro BRW in the reporting on it.
Katherine– I imagine you do not know what the word “scuttlebutt” means or you would not have used it.
Some scuttlebut is not just rumor but intentional lies, you know.
Your comment did not get moderated because you stayed within the designated rules of a privately owned newspaper. There are plenty of comments that get posted here that criticize the Times, or the so called “liberal values” of the editorial staff.
Don, Katherine is correct. The Times’s news coverage on BRW has been little more than ads for it, presenting a skewed, pro-event bias on critics vs proponents. There are many articles, largely shilling for this event.
https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/06/24/beach-road-weekend-offers-island-exclusive-tickets/
Check out the 9 comments under this free advert/ news story.
Regarding this year’s event alone, there are also: “Beach Road Weekend announces 2022 lineup”, July, 2021; “Beach Road Weekend 2022 adds more musicians”, Nov, 2021; “Beach Road Weekend signs Black Dog sponsorship”, May, 2022; “Beach Road Weekend offers Island exclusive tickets” June, 2022 (linked above); “Beach Road Weekend to offer water taxi transport”, August 2022; “SSA announces Beach Road Weekend adjustments”, August, 2022; “Beach Road Weekend rocks on”, August, 2022; “Beach Road Weekend called ‘monstrous success'”, August 2022; “Beach Road Weekend roundly supported”. October, 2022; and most recently, “Beach Road Weekend post-festival meetinng Nov. 3”, October, 2022 (where the writer announced there has been “light criticism” and “heavy praise” for the festival… before this meeting was even held, lol.
And then there was the editorial: “Review is an important step”, October, 2022.
https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/10/19/review-important-step/
The editorial scolds the Times commenting objectors for noticing the obvious ego and greed, but never seems to notice, among the dozens of argumentative, defensive, and offensive comments from Adam Epstein, that he never once thanks the majority of commenters praising the festival. Then the editorial claims that the objectors don’t offer any solutions! Even in this thread there are several good ideas for solutions to this end-of-season business free-for-all, most notably that the venue should be moved out of this residential neighborhood.
The Times is mostly great about accepting criticism, and i imagine it’s hard not to be defensive when people like me notice that their coverage of this festival has been nearly entirely business oriented and pro, pro, pro Beach Road Weekend. The editorial staff of this paper has “business values” and it shows up in some biased reporting on BRW and the housing bank.
Jackie conveniently glosses over this comment in the editorial because it doesn’t fit her narrative: “We appreciate that Epstein doesn’t run from the controversy, but at times some of his responses can come off as dismissive, defensive, and, ultimately, unproductive.”
Fair enough, George. However, one mildly reprimanding sentence in this newspaper does not undo the paper’s undue glowing attention paid to this festival. As much as I have commented on this topic, and it’s been a lot, no one has commented more often on the subject in this paper than Adam Epstein, many accusing detractors of all kinds of untruths– and never once has he thanked a supporter who has commented favorably in most of the comments. Of his dozens of comments he had the time to write, he never responded to a single favorable, congratulatory, or encouraging review. That’s not my narrative. That is reality.
Unfortunately, both of these statements are incorrect.
Lagoon Pond Road was not fenced off, ever. It was closed to through traffic after Chicken Alleys normal business hours, so they never needed to close at all. The MVCS Board of Directors is trying to understand why Jessica made the decision to close when she could have stayed open, and sold things that the festival goers might have liked, or made some overt solicitation of donations from passers-by, like posting signs about their mission and asking for donations. They are also trying to understand why Jessica continually ignores our outreach and attempts to partner like we do with many other island charities. Why would they close pre-emptively before trying to see if they could generate revenue?
Like I said, the MVCS Board is checking into her reasoning. plus, as I have since 2019, we are available to discuss partnering as we do with other non-profits.
As far as the baseless statement that we asked to use the park for free, it’s not even close to the truth. Not only have we voluntarily paid more than $25,000 per year to use the park for the festival , but we have also generated and donated dollars and tickets to MVCS themselves for Impossible Dreams, and many other worthwhile charities on the island.
I can understand that you may disagree with the festival, but you should not lie or use innuendo to try to make your point.
For some people it’s no to BRW.
For others it’s MVC.
You and I very much agree on BRW.
My biggest complaint about the MVC is that it doesn’t represent all of the County’s island’s.
Dukes County is comprised of three islands, MV, Nomans, and Cuttyhunk. What purpose would it serve to have the MVC involved with Nomans? The name of the body you refer to is The Martha’s Vineyard Commission. It is not the Dukes County Commission, and there’s a reason for that.
Jim, you must be new here, Dukes County consists of nine human inhabited islands.
The MVC is funded by assessments to all seven towns in the county
It’s name aside it is in fact the County of Dukes County Commission.
For marketing purposes it is called the MVC.
No, the Dukes County Commission is not the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
the latter was created by the Massachusetts Legislature:
“The Martha’s Vineyard Commission Act, Chapter 831 of the Acts of 1977 – officially An Act Further Regulating the Protection of Land and Waters of the Island of Martha’s Vineyard – was adopted on December 21, 1977, outlining the Commission’s planning and regulatory functions.”
Nomans is a part of the Town of Chilmark.
Chappaquiddick is part of the Town of Edgartown.
Mr. Hess is spewing out a dust cloud of confusion.
Hardly new here at all. Where were you in 1972?
I was here on MV.
I stand with the expertise of Deborah Medders about safety, and the facts from Jessica Tartell from Chicken Alley. I like facts and truth. The people are not exaggerating about the booming sound. We could hear it loudly in Oak Bluffs, which told us it was not well produced. And I do not believe the producer’s statements about some survey showing that August week being “slow” on MV. That has not been the case in my 40 years here, or especially the last few years. Truth: we do not “need” this – the question is really about who wants it and why?
Safety?
Were their any serious injuries directly attributable to BRW?
People have been swallowing tourism, tourism, tourism to the point they have been deprived of housing, quality of life, and a more balanced “say sustainable” year round economy. Folks lost a war they did not know they were fighting until it was lost.
Tourism is 90% of the Island’s economy.
What a bizarre assessment – it probably makes up for no more than 60% if people REALLY ran the numbers of every business, every income, and everyone who pays taxes and where their money comes from – that’s the smart knowledge of it. Not to mention, Albert, but who do you think owns most of the Island businesses in 2022 – not Islanders, that who – and who works at them? Temp workers. You need to think through whatever thoughts you are having about money, about which your concern appears solely to be.
I thought we already held the meeting reviewing the concert. Had I known about it I would have attended to say I think the the concert is a wonderful addition to to our town and the island tourist experience. The music was world class and the running of it was very good. No big problems with crowd control or the flow of concert goers in and out. There’s bad traffic everyday of the summer. I live within a couple hundred yards of the stages and wasn’t bothered by the noise. The music was over early and unless you go to bed with birds you could get a good nights sleep. It makes me sad a few disgruntled people might put an end to this wonderful event.
I attended the meeting and it was the same Debbie downers who bitch about everything. I think Adam has done an amazing job with the festival and truly tries to improve it every year. If the Debbie’s have a say we will never be allowed to listen to great music or dance again.
If there’s something to complain about people will. The concert was amazing, it was well organized and totally entertaining. Unfortunately whoever was controlling sound got a little carried away with the volume levels, with proper coordination, the sound levels can be kept more respectable for the surrounding neighborhood. Other than that, I thought the concert was absolutely amazing!
I live in Vineyard Haven and thoroughly enjoyed the festival. I had a multi-day pass. The festival was fun, well-run and exciting. One day I was hungry for something vegetarian so I left the grounds and walked over to Copper Anchor. While in the restaurant, I could barely hear the music. Some people just like to complain.
My wife and I moved to Vineyard Haven 30 years ago to get away from the noise, crowding, and disruptions of Oak Bluffs. Big mistake. During the concert, at the north end of William Street, we still had to stay inside, keep the windows closed and nevertheless “enjoy” the inescapable noise and vibration. Perhaps property owners experiencing severe noise should have their property taxes abated by the Town rather than being encouraged to get out of town.
I’m all for your idea about abating taxes when there is excessive noise.
I have neighbors on both sides of me and across the street that use there gas powered leaf blowers almost every day– for hours.
I’ll let you know how that goes when I apply for it.
Don,
While I retain property in Chilmark, I live most of the year just outside of Pittsburgh. Used to live in the city, but it was too loud. My (now) wife bought a modest place up in the woods, right by the Allegheny National Forest. While we love the access to the outdoors and wildlife exposure (not the bears so much), we are subject to a constant din of lawnmowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws and gun fire. The “quiet country life” is a myth.
But I’d ask, how many years is it that the Ag Fair has been going? 15? 20?
You must be new to MV?
Try 161 years.
Tisbury was the third noisest town on the Island when you moved there.
It still is.
If you were looking for quiet you should have moved to one the quiet towns like Gosnold.
Maybe it’s time for the voters of Tisbury to replace the current select board with people who care about the residents rather than the business interests of a seasonal home owner?
My husband and I both work hard during the summertime (like so many of us!) and we were over the moon about being able to finish work for the day and walk up the street to see some world class musicians for the locals rate. A big deal. My favorite part of the summer. I agree about the need for better recycling and care for/respect the concerns of nearby neighbors – let’s work with BRW to get it right. Also – I think I remember that there was money earmarked from BRW for Vineyard Haven arts/music programs. I’d love to see MV Times or the BRW folks report out on how this is spent. It would be great to sure-up First Fridays, for example, for the hardworking folks handling those cool events that add so much to VH.
An ancient piece of “mom” advice:
If you are planning a noisy party, be sure to invite the neighbors.
I propose that all Tisbury residents who live within, say, a half-mile radius of Veterans Park be given free 3-day passes to the festival.
Let’s try it next year.
Tourist are needed for island economy. I worked for years at a gift shop in VH and without the summer business store owners wouldn’t have to employ as many island people. One island woman came in to have a watch battery changed and got mad because it was taking to long. She had a boat reservation to go off and do her Christmas shopping. Just saying.
After rereading the article and going through the comments it seems to me that some of these complainers are looking for handouts. I can hear music from my house so I need a complimentary pass I may have lost some revenue so need to make that up everyone wants to get into BRW pocket for imagined problems. Some of the issues are real and will be addressed just like we learned to put up with the agricultural fair, Edgartown fireworks and parade, OB firework all have become streamlined. BRW is becoming a world class event and is needed. Give it a few more years to work out the growing pains. Music is good for the sole and we all could use a dose.
Woah. For Chicken Alley to complain about losing revenue – our Island thrift/second-hand store – forget it buddy, they have EVERY RIGHT. $20K a day is something you ought to write a check for, I guess. That’s a “real” issue. Complimentary pass idea is actually a good one – you catch ‘flies’ with honey better than vinegar. But leave out Chicken Alley and lost income of 5 figures, that is a REAL THING.
Do you really think chicken alley store lost $20,000 a day? I was not born yesterday because at that rate it would figure out to be $600,000 for the month. What is the average sale price in there $25 dollars means 800 people going through those stores in fact it was most likely less than $25. Show me the books as I give their comment 10 Pinocchio‘s
Bob– I can’t find the summer hours for chicken alley. But I know they are only open from about 10 to 5 at best. I also think they are closed on Sundays– If anyone has more accurate information than my guess, please post it.
But going the other direction from your math; $20,000 for a 7 hour day means $2857 an hour going through the registers.
That’s $47 a minute.
Even according to the “scuttlebutt” that Ms. Scott refers to of a $15,000 per day loss, that works out to $35.70 per minute going through the registers. I’ve been there– nope..
And that presumably is just sales.
I’m with you on this one–(let’s both savor the moment 😉 ) there are a lot of Pinocchio’s in that claim.
I realize there are issues with BRW. It would be better for all of us if people stuck to real issues and didn’t make up or wildly exaggerate the “scuttlebut”.
We will only vote for selectmen who will not support this venue going forward . The only thing my hands are open for is broken glass I have picked up for the last two days at Veterans Memorial Park, maybe you could come down and help.
Carlos -Thank you for picking up glass at Veterans park.
But we are talking about the BRW festival. May I remind you that security did a pretty thorough job of inspecting bags. No glass containers of any kind were permitted.
The glass you are finding was very unlikely to have originated with festival goers. If someone smuggled glass containers in, shame on them. It seems you are implying that any glass you find in the field is somehow the responsibility of the promoters. It is not.
They did everything they could to keep glass out of the festival.
What a bunch of Crybabies.
Its 3 days a year for a few hours.
Get a life.
Are you shocked by the usual suspects normal doom and gloom moaning and groaning???? I get that is an “inconvenience” to some but it provides joy to the masses. It was a great festival. It boggles my mind that with all of the craziness that is going on in this world, people still relish raining on another persons parade. With some tweaking, I believe that the wrinkles of the the festival can be ironed out. Let’s all coexist, have some much needed fun, and smile our way through this cruel world. To the folks at the Times, I love what you do and thoroughly enjoy the publication.
One thing I have to note is that the field is in better shape than I have ever seen it.
Yeah, after some pretty heavy rains, it still has puddles. I think that’s unfixable without a huge expense from the town.
I think it’s really doing well because of the efforts of the promoter to mitigate damage to it, and landscaping crews that worked on it immediately after the concert.
It was raked flat-ish , aerated, fertilized, and seeded, at no expense to the town.
Don, your wrong on so many points, just because someone says something loud and often does not make it true.
Dave–I agree with you about someone saying loud things often does not make them true.
For example–no matter how loud and often people claim that trump won the 2020 election it is still not true.
But, to the issue at hand. I have expressed my opinion about a few things here.
I have posted 5 times on this article (as of nov 7, 6 pm) , and one is awaiting moderation .
I pointed out to Katherine that “scuttlebutt” is often a deliberate lie.
I sarcastically agreed with Phil’s presumably sarcastic comment that the town should reduce property taxes for residents that are impacted by noise.
I posted that I doubt the thrift store takes in $47 a minute, every minute they are open.
I thanked Carlos for picking up glass in Veterans park
And I noted that, in my opinion, the park looked pretty good and benefited from the landscaping work that Mr. Epstein paid for.
The one awaiting moderation simply points out to Albert that he comments more often than Jackie– not that anybody cares about that, but Albert seem to criticize her for commenting frequently.
On this thread, Albert 8, Jackie 6. —Count ’em —
So Dave– What am I wrong about ?
What am I saying loud and often?
Not one of my comments here is a repeat.
None are untrue.
Me thinks thou doth protest too much.
I live on Skiff Ave and there’s noise from April to November! The traffic is awful because there’s an increase in the quantity every year and it’s year round. The second problem is that most drivers exceed the posted 25MPH signs because they’re each too important and busy to read road signs. (Yeah I’m lookin’ at you taxis, contractors, soccer moms in SUV’s!) There are renovations, additions, new building, driveway work, shingling projects, and I haven’t even gotten to the dreaded landscaping noise pollution of ride on mowers, gas powered weed whackers and the worst of the worst, leaf blowers! For. Months. Too much noise for three days of topnotch musicians doesn’t compare. I absolutely agree with Wes Nagy who talked about the music being too loud. I also remember reading somewhere a comment from island musician Jeremy Berlin who said the same thing about the distorted levels. I worked the concert for three days and when I was on a break to hear EmmyLou Harris, I made my way up to the front of the really well behaved crowd. I couldn’t understand a word of her singing and the music was badly distorted. I retreated to half the distance back and could then enjoy her performance. Yes, it was mixed poorly and addressing this next time would go a long way to improving the experience for ticket holders and should appease the neighbors living close by. I would like to see a perfect venue for the concert but I don’t know that one exists here. (Is perfection ever reached? It’s inevitable that someone will be unhappy.) I believe the high school has said no to hosting the concert. What about the Ag Barn in West Tisbury? Yes, yes, I know. The first conflict would be the date in late August being on the heels of the Agricultural Fair. As I said, I worked the concert for the second time. There are many working parts and the staff put together by Mr Epstein do a fantastic job. It’s a work in progress so let’s have the goal of making it a better and better experience for all involved. The contract has been signed; let’s allow Adam Epstein the chance to make it better.
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