Chilmark officials are still trying to settle a years-long discussion about how to regulate and limit the number of community dinners at up-Island farms.
The Chilmark select board is proposing allowing three events per farm over the summer and fall months, while local farmers say that the rules would be too restrictive, and would impact their ability to reach the Island community and even sustain their businesses. They also say that they have Massachusetts state law on their side.
The debate came to a head, but not a conclusion, at a recent select board meeting, where local farmers advocated for their right to hold gatherings while town officials tried to draw harder lines. After withdrawing a possible vote at last Tuesday’s meeting, the town will review its options with legal counsel.
Tuesday’s meeting, which grew contentious at times, was the second on the topic this year, but the conversation about agricultural events — specifically community dinners — in the town of Chilmark has been ongoing for more than two years, with farmers hoping to do more to support their operations. The select board recently became involved, and board members say they’re trying to find a middle ground.
“The town has historically said that farm dinners — with sit-down, plated meals for consumption on premises — were not allowed under the ‘ag exemption,’” select board member Matt Poole said. He clarified that they’re revisiting the decision in an effort to reach a solution, and that they value and see the importance of the farms. “[But] I think it’s really important that we set some guidelines … rather than just have [these events be] unlimited.”
Thomas Lesser, an attorney representing two Chilmark farms — Beetlebung and North Tabor — said the restrictions on agricultural events are misplaced. Lesser, in the small room in Chilmark Town Hall, said he trusts the board’s intentions, but doesn’t believe they’re rooted in law. He cited the Dover Amendment, which limits town and state authority with agricultural and educational events, and said Chilmark cannot restrict farm events the way it’s trying to.
The “ag exemption” in the Dover Amendment is a zoning ordinance that prohibits towns and states from overly interfering with a farm as long as the farm meets certain criteria. Education is one of those criteria, and it’s one of the purposes that the dinners may meet, according to the farmers and their representation.
“I understand what you’re trying to do, but you have limited authority in this area,” Lesser told the board. “Massachusetts law is really clear.”
Some Chilmark residents felt the town was not restricting possible farm events enough. Tucker Drummond stood up and passionately drove home his point to both select board members and farm owners in the room. He feared the 21 agricultural events over a few months — at seven farms and with three dinners each — would turn Chilmark into the “restaurant capital of the world.”
“This is a commercial restaurant pretending to be a backyard barbecue,” Drummond said. “I think this is way too fast … and we haven’t even thought through the implications of all of this.”
But Rebecca Miller, owner and operator of North Tabor Farm, disagreed. “No farmer wants to be a restaurateur. Not here in Chilmark. Not in this town,” she said.
Miller listed the benefits of her farm and others: educational tours, classes, mentor programs, gleaning events with Island Grown Initiative, 4-H programs with the Charter School, and their farmstand, which she said is the most commercial aspect of most Island farms, if a mutual-trust money jar can be considered commercial.
“I’ve been a farmer for 32 years,” Miller said. “We support our community, and we trust our community … [Events are] not going to change what we do here. [They’re] just going to add to it.”
Miller said she and the other farm owners in Chilmark have been working with the town for years on a compromise solution, and the three-events limit didn’t feel aligned with that vision. The issue coming to any contention was unusual for those involved, who say this process has been civil, community-oriented, and geared toward a best solution for all involved parties.
“We just want to feel supported,” she said to the select board members.
Marie Larsen, select board chair, said she understood Miller’s concerns. “I do take issue that the select board has done nothing for this,” she said.
“We’ve done more in two weeks than the past few years [combined],” Poole responded.
The three members of the board voted to withdraw and take the matter up with town counsel before setting anything in stone. Some select board members said getting these regulations right the first time around matters most to them — making sure they’re appropriately working with the law, the community, and the farm owners.
But that means business as usual will continue for the summer, with farms still hoping to conduct dinners at their farms, and what they say are outdated systems in place to support them doing so.
Poole said the number of events that have been considered has changed a few times in the past two years. Ten events a season for each farm in Chilmark would mean 70 possible dinners total, and the select board said it’s hesitant to allow too many right out of the gate.
In a select board meeting weeks ago, building inspector Adam Petkus suggested 10 as the most dinners a farm could hold, as a possible compromise.
“The concept of ‘farm dinners’ or ‘agritourism’ has long been proposed by the farms in Chilmark as another way to support their farm operations,” he wrote in a letter to the select board. He suggested certain guidelines for the events due to necessary board of health and building inspector approval. But at that meeting, the motion was pushed, and the vote delayed.
The farm owners and their staff left the most recent select board meeting and walked to the lawn to the side of the building to discuss the past two years among one another. They stood in a circle and talked about their love for the town of Chilmark and their hope that they’ll continue working toward a solution.
“I’m here because farming matters,” West Tisbury resident Chrissy Minnich Kinsman said. “Food, and bringing people together, and coming to a table, is what’s going to sustain us right now.”
For some in the 15-person group on the lawn outside Chilmark Town Hall, their intentions for a thoughtful solution have felt unheard, and they said their defenses are going up only because they believe in the value of farming, food, and community.
“People want to protect what they love,” director of Beetlebung Farm Amy Shepherd said to her fellow farmers.
Please please cherish our farms and the agricultural heritage. If you’ve been to the Cape, you’ll know what happens when the farms leave.
Having farm dinners is a feature, not a bug. (I live near Grey Barn and am still annoyed that the town took away the taco truck.). These farms should not have to hire attorneys to defend themselves.
C’mon, give the farmers a break! We’re so fortunate to have people growing food right here on the island and, with things trending as they are, every degree of self-sufficiency we can muster is to everyone’s benefit. Capping dinners at 10/farm seems perfectly reasonable to me. Let’s give our hardworking farmers the support they need.
Stating that these dinners are “educational” purpose is a stretch, even for the Dover Amendment which is often misused. It’s curious that they claim they need these dinners to support their farms but seemingly have enough dough to pay for a lawyer. Oh and at least one of the “farmers” quoted in the story is a multi-millionaire. Let’s keep farms, farms.
John!!! This is wildly inaccurate.
I took over the oldest farm on the island in 2021, during Covid. It has been a labor of love ever since. Every dollar that has gone into this farm was earned with my two hard-working hands building artistic woodwork, Stone Work, and other random side jobs to even consider sustaining this place.
I had to pay for an attorney, which I still owe money to, to fight for my absolute right to cater to customers, and exercise my right to teach regenerative agriculture.
Please take a moment and understand that there are multigenerational farmers (still) here that care enough to want to participate, but it is becoming more difficult every day.
I certainly do not have deep pockets, but I would love to find a way to sustain this 87 acres, I am fortunate enough to live on. I am officially a nonprofit organization, and I would love any constructive criticism you may have to offer.
It’s certainly educational to have a farm to table dinner. Teaching people how there food is made and where is comes from is an education that many sorely lack.
Farms make food (among many other things). How would serving people food, not be teaching them about the farm?
This needs to be resolved in a way that allows farmers to support their operations. 10 visits per farm over 120 days is fewer people than visit Menemsha on a slow weekday.
As to the educational component, it’s obvious. Bringing people closer to the source of their food is a rich educational experience that will enhance their understanding of this most fundamental of human experiences – the food we consume.
Go farmers!
Exactly. Once again, Chilmark fails to see the forest for the trees. Come on Select Board folks, you all claim to put upholding Chilmark heritage as a top priority. That means supporting farms. You obviously have no idea how tenuous making a living by farming is. What they ask is entirely reasonable.
Farm dinners are wonderful and in perfect alignment with the culture of Chilmark.
Question: How many dinners should be allowed at farms? Answer: As many as the farmers want.
How many rock concerts should be allowed at farms?
Last I checked chewing doesn’t make much noise.
this islander is all for the revival of farm dinners and home grown food served to many people who are learning what real fresh food tastes like- I am happy the millionaire farmer jumped in-many farmers are multi-millionaires too-they just have to sell or make lots for later sale-and in 2025 every family needs a lawyer–i am curious why you are so negative…John
It’s because he’s nothing but a contrarian
How is it anyone else’s business if a farm wants to put on a dinner party, or how often? But a farm that needs to do that isn’t exactly a farm and if it wants to call itself one some adjustments are in order. I second the John Axel’s comment above.
We do it in Falmouth with Coonamesset farms. The state regulations I believe say a certain percentage of the dinner needs to produced by the farm operation if memory serves me right. I served as a Selectman and we granted them a waiver to allow them to start a Wednesday night dinner. Wildly successful and highlighted the problematic issues of farms trying to gain a margin to survive. The farm operation is a core piece of our communities understanding the importance of our valued commitment to further understanding our relationship with our natural world. Natural locally sourced product is something we in Falmouth are very proud of. They just need some relief to make it happen.
Do you know how hard farmers work ? It truly is a labor of love as Brad Tucker says, and if you’re lucky enough to have been to a farm dinner and tasted the delicious fresh food, why on earth wouldn’t you want this to continue ?? What is so offensive about inviting people to a dinner party on your farm ? I am a caterer who uses produce and cheese from local farms and LOVE the farm dinners,
John Axel’s small minded insinuation that if farmers can afford a lawyer ( and many can’t) why the need for the farm dinners ?
Because just like us, farmers need to celebrate the hard work it took to produce the wonderful fresh and delicious food they will serve. and besides- they need the money !
I’m not sure what the barrier to farm meals is. Does someone have a restaurant that is under-subscribed? Is there a parking issue? Why would the Chilmark selectmen want to limit the amount of meals a farm can serve? What is the actual problem? Sounds like there’s an agenda here that is not entirely open.
Ummmm…the cost is a barrier for regular folks. Perhaps the farms can commit to providing at least one affordable farm dinner for island residents, before July 4th and after Labor Day?
Sounds like the government would like nothing more than to get rid of the farms and build more multi million dollar homes.
They would get far more tax dollars to play with
“Lucky enough” to have been to a farm dinner? Well-off enough, I think is more apt. Don’t these din-dins start at something like $300 per person now? But if you’re not too hungry and are on a budget, how about an August “tomato-tasting” for $45 per person? Can we please be honest about who exactly is enjoying these hip, educational, and no doubt delicious farm events? Not the wait staff on their night off. It’s about making money, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But please, stop confusing the usual catering-to-seasonal-wealth with something of a high and mighty moral value.
Jackie, whether or not a retired librarian like me can afford to attend a farm dinner is irrelevant. I buy their meat, produce and prepared food. I place tremendous value in knowing where my food comes from. It’s in my interest, and all island residents interests, that the island farm culture thrives. It’s an incredibly difficult way to make a living, with a short season subject to the vagaries of weather and pests. Farm dinners will provide a cushion. Our elected officials need to do a better job supporting our farms.
Ebba, I wrote a different, longer response the other day which I hope the moderator will ignore and post this one instead. It is incorrect to see most (not all) of these new and improved farm stands as something other than businesses largely catering to the wealthy. I saw social media ads from one up-island “farm stand” this weekend that was selling beautiful pottery priced at hundreds of dollars apiece. It is no more morally superior to shop and support these expensive businesses which are farms, galleries, book stores, kitchen shops, restaurants, and wedding venues than it is to shop Amazon and cut coupons for Stop and Shop produce, all the while trying to find housing, a doctor, an electrician, and a vet— The priorities of the majority of locals simply do not include worrying about pests eating $45 tomatoes before said products can be artfully presented to consumers on $500 handmade pieces of pottery. Of course, with tariffs on Mexico’s products, local islanders would be wise to grow their own tomatoes.
I believe these activities are protected by the Dover Amendment and the Right to Farm spirit that these towns profess to protect. A Right to Farm should also include a Right to Feed and a Right to Taste.
I believe this “fight” should and hopefully will result in a state court determining that there is actually no right to restrict these events at all and finding that this quibbling over 3 or 10 events ends up resulting in a state mandated zero restriction that allows for unlimited events. The select board is in over its head and wants to appear to do something and I believe that “waste taxpayer dollars on unnecessary legal bills” is what they are going to find themselves having done here when it’s all over.
Then again, it seems like this is a local political tradition of making asinine choices of political battles and then loosing them and having wasted millions in the process. You all can name numerous cases of this same behavior island wide so I will spare you.
“Ten events a season for each farm in Chilmark would mean 70 possible dinners total, and the select board said it’s hesitant to allow too many right out of the gate. ”
Whoa, 70 possible dinners per season is “too many”??
That is ridiculous.
The main business of farmers is farming, not putting on dinners.
So it is unlikely that a farmer could manage this type of event more than once or twice a week.
We let the Agricultural Society and churches put on community dinners.
Why shouldn’t farmers be able to do this?
The only issues I can see with this idea would be possible complaints of neighbors about noise and traffic, and parking issues. And, yes, some reasonable portion of the food served should be made from that farm or another Island farm. I see this as a great way to introduce the public to new and interesting dishes.
The time-honored way to appease neighbors when one wants to have a party is by inviting them to the party.
One solution to the issue regarding farms as “restaurants” would be for farmers to get together and create a Farm Dinner Club. Club members could attend farm dinners. People could become a member of the club automatically by making a reservation to attend a farm dinner.
How many farms are actually set up to accommodate farm dinners? If they want to make the investment and if they can satisfy town regulatory authorities they should be able to give it a try. My only concern is that they follow the food safety requirements just like any restaurant to guarantee the safety of their customers. Established restaurants which have training, health inspections, standards, etc. still make mistakes so we shouldn’t just assume that the people who grow our food can necessarily serve it safely.