The Tisbury select board has approved a three-year agreement to host the annual Beach Road Weekend music festival in Veterans Memorial Park.
The three-day, multi-performer series made its debut in 2019 and returned in a scaled-down format last July, before announcing a full line-up of more than two dozen acts for August 26 through August 28, 2022.
“We’ve been successful in establishing Beach Road as an exceptional Vineyard event, on par with the Ag Fair, the Oak Bluffs fireworks, the Martha’s Vineyard Food and Wine Festival — all the iconic events on the Island,” event producer Adam Epstein told the select board during a public meeting on Zoom Jan. 26.
This year’s festival is expected to sell out within the next few weeks, Mr. Epstein said.
The town charges the concert $12,500 a day to use Veterans Memorial Park, as well as the costs of three single-day alcohol licenses and all police, fire, water, highway and emergency services required during the festival.
Mr. Epstein said the festival also has hired a landscaper with Memorial Park experience, whose job will be to assess the condition of the park fields before the event, remain on site for the duration of the weekend, develop a remediation action plan and start restoration work first thing the following Monday.
Along with municipal expenses and landscaping care, he said the concert also provides revenue to Island community organizations.
“We’ve established the festival as a 501 c(3) nonprofit whose ultimate goal is to support the performing arts, live music and recreational programming on the Island — in particular Tisbury, if we can direct it that way,” Mr. Epstein told the board.
In addition to supporting music programs at the regional high school, Mr. Epstein said he plans to provide uniforms for the men’s softball league and invest in equipment for youth soccer programs.
“We’re hitting a point where we can afford to do these things, so we want to do them,” he said.
Mr. Epstein cited more than $1.5 million worth of festival bookings at local hotels that have partnered with the concert for 2022.
Select board chairman Jeff Kristal and board member Larry Gomez, who both own inns in Tisbury, did not take part in the promotion, they said.
The agreement with the town stipulates a five per cent profit share to the town once the festival achieves profitability, Mr. Epstein said.
Top-billed acts in the 2022 festival include Beck, Wilco and Emmylou Harris.
“I guess giving you these [2023 and 2024] dates this far in advance gives you much more ability to really lock in some killer names,” Mr. Kristal said.
“Yes, absolutely,” Mr. Epstein said. “We’ve got an incredible headliner for next year, if you authorize this.”
The board voted unanimously in favor of the three-year agreement, which schedules Beach Road Weekend 2023 for August 24-26 and the 2024 festival for August 22-25.
Comments (13)
Comments
Comment policy »