Updated July 31
The president and co-owner of the Chappy Ferry, Peter Wells, is pushing for better enforcement from Edgartown and asking for the installation of temporary public restrooms near Memorial Wharf after reporting some debauchery on Tuesday nights.
The town wharf welcomes a crowd of night-revelers every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9 pm for Dock Dance, a free outdoor concert overlooking Edgartown Harbor.
Though police said the dance hasn’t had an incident in recent years, Wells said that a number of his staff complained that concert-goers were using his employees’ parking area to urinate and would do so often on their cars, noting that the closest public restrooms in town were a few blocks away. One deckhand said people exposed themselves, Wells said in a letter dated July 24 to town officials. The letter also said objects, including beer cans, have been thrown at the ferry during the dance.
The response so far from the town has been that they would invite stakeholders and police to a meeting next week to discuss the issue, but town select board members said that if it continues to be a problem, they might have to shut Dock Dance down.
Wells described his issues to the board on Monday afternoon during a regular meeting. “My crew was pretty traumatized this past Tuesday, and unless I can tell them something convincing, they’re not going to work this Tuesday,” Wells told the select board. “It would be nice if there was a porta potty.”
Wells has reached out to a company on the Island that has a temporary restroom available for 24-hour increments, but it’s $700. Wells asked if this could be arranged by the town for this week’s dance.
“I did not know we had this kind of a problem,” select board member Arthur Smadbeck said. Wells has notified police.
John Stanwood, guitarist and singer for the Dock Dance Band, said that they make announcements throughout the night to ask the audience to be respectful. Ninety-five percent of the outdoor concert’s attendees are safe and responsible, and a few bad apples make everyone look bad, Stanwood said. They don’t condone drinking or actions mentioned by Wells.
This isn’t the first time Wells has asked the town to provide restrooms at Memorial Wharf. “This letter will also serve as my 17th annual plea to the town…two design options have been previously submitted to the town,” he said in his letter.
Band members also said this is part of a larger problem of public access to restrooms in town. The ferry house does have a bathroom for emergencies, but it is not public.
“There’s been a need for a public restroom forever,” Adam Petkus, Dock Dance Band frontman, said. “If this is the lightning rod to get a seasonal porta potty at the Chappy Ferry, then so be it.”
After Wells spoke with Lieutenant Chris Dolby, he suggested in another letter that town officials secure the upper deck of the wharf to prevent thrown objects, push up the dance earlier from 6 to 8 pm for easier security, and install a bathroom.
There is room for temporary bathrooms, Wells said. He’d said he’d happily give up one of his parking spots for them. “It’s an easy enough problem to solve,” he said
The select board promised they’d talk to town administrator James Hagerty, who was off on Monday, about the bathrooms as well as to McNamee about police detail.
Dolby was at the event Tuesday night as an added presence and said besides two instances — one teenager with alcoholic beverages and a small scuffle that ended in no injuries — the 200 or so attendees were well-behaved.
Dolby also said that the band picked up garbage from the wharf after their set.
Hagerty said he plans to put this issue on the select board agenda for Monday, August 5, as long as Wells and McNamee are able to attend. Select board chair Michael Donaroma also said they need to talk to the Dock Dance organizers. Petkus said they’ll have a representative from the band at the meeting.
The free outdoor concert is an “old vestige of a time that has gone by,” Petkus said. It remains important to keep this around, he said.
It would be a shame for it to end on a bad note, Stanwood said.
A porta potty was on the scene this past Tuesday night, band members and police personnel said. Hagerty confirmed he saw it getting picked up this morning.
