Veterans Memorial Park in Tisbury, where more than 10,000 people a day gathered for last year’s Beach Road Weekend music festival, needs its own stewards to ensure the grass and other park facilities are maintained consistently, town officials say.
During a discussion with festival promoter Adam Epstein at last Wednesday’s select board meeting, board member John Cahill and town administrator John (Jay) Grande both called for a committee devoted solely to managing the park.
“We need a highly focused group, just like they had with the spring building,” Mr. Grande said, referring to the committee that developed a management plan for the town’s Tashmoo Spring Building area more than 10 years ago.
Income from Beach Road Weekend and other park users, such as softball and soccer leagues, currently flows to the town’s general fund for parks and recreation, he noted.
“I’d rather see it go into a dedicated Veterans [Park account],” Mr. Grande said. “This is sacred ground.”
Public works director Kirk Metell also supports a temporary or permanent management committee funded by park proceeds, Mr. Grande said.
Beach Road Weekend producer Adam Epstein said his company is interested in helping to establish a Friends of Veterans Memorial Park charitable nonprofit and a maintenance fund to aid the park.
“We’ve proposed to [Mr. Grande] that we will be the initial funder of that organization with a matching $50,000 grant for the first $50,000 donated,” Mr. Epstein said. “We would fully embrace the opportunity to help.”
Mr. Epstein also fielded select board concerns about the annual festival itself, which brings three days of amplified live music to the low-lying park. Complaints from neighborhood residents about noise and traffic during last year’s Beach Road Weekend have led his company to make new plans for 2023, he said.
Mr. Epstein said neighbors with noise complaints will be able to call a hotline for an immediate response from both festival personnel and town officials, and he would look to change bus routes to cut shuttle traffic on Skiff avenue by a third.
“Audio professionals will have a hotline to the sound board [audio control center] to fix any outstanding issues in the moment they occur,” he said.
Mr. Epstein also asked to conduct a full sound check this summer, saying last year’s sound check — the process by which audio engineers set and balance the amplification system before a live event — was cut short after neighbors complained that it was taking place outside festival hours.
Beach Road Weekend is scheduled to return to the park Aug. 26 through Aug. 28.
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