Planning Underway For October Harvest Festival In Westhampton Beach

A last-minute scramble to finalize the map and plan for Westhampton Beach’s fourth annual Harvest Festival, hosted by the Greater Westhampton Chamber of Commerce, raised a slew of questions from Village Board members at a work session on Thursday, September 20.

Members of the chamber’s Harvest Festival Committee presented the plans for the festival, which is scheduled to run between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on October 13 on Main Street. But Village Board members were concerned that the proposed layout would leave little space for an emergency vehicle to navigate the roadway—which will be closed to vehicular traffic for the duration of the festival.

The fall festival is expected to feature six food trucks, 12 vendors and two “beer gardens”—although chamber President Noelle Bass noted that more applications “are coming in every day”—and is anticipated to attract up to 3,000 people. A stage, located near Glovers Lane, also will feature live music from local bands throughout the day.

Mayor Maria Moore said she asked the committee to submit a revised map, addressing the concerns, prior to the Thursday night work session, but said she had not received anything at the start of the meeting. Ms. Bass noted that she had submitted a new map earlier that day via email, but Ms. Moore said she did not receive any email.

The revised map relocated all the food trucks from the middle of the street to the sides. Although that would allow for adequate access down the middle of the road, Ms. Moore questioned the move.

“The only complaints we got the first year were when the food trucks were right in front of the stores with the generators—that’s why it was suggested that the trucks move back down the middle,” she said. “I’m a little frustrated to get the map as the meeting’s beginning … It just needs to be more precise so that we know exactly what is going to happen that morning. It’s good for everybody to know exactly where things are going to go.”

Karl MacDonald, owner of The Mill Roadhouse in Westhampton Beach and a member of the chamber’s board of directors, noted that everyone on the committee wanted to keep the trucks in the middle of the road, but because the trucks are not all the same length, “it’s difficult to kind of get an idea of which food trucks you would back up to who and where you’re going to place them.” For that reason, he said, it was also hard to accommodate an acceptable pathway for an emergency vehicle.

If the trucks were kept in the middle of the street, Ms. Bass also said she worried that the festival would be limited to only the south side of the street, since the north side would have to be kept open in case of an emergency.

Both Ms. Moore and Village Trustee Brian Tymann suggested allowing trucks to park in the middle of the street and then staggering, or clustering, the tents and other vendors on both the north and south sides of the road so, if needed, an ambulance or fire truck could “zigzag” through the festival.

“The concept is, cluster on the north side, access on the south side; and then cluster on the south side and access on the north side,” Mr. Tymann said, drawing the new suggested layout on the map with Ms. Bass.

Although Police Chief Trevor Gonce was not at the meeting to discuss the suggestion, Village Trustee Steve Frano said that at least 75 feet would be needed between each “cluster” to allow for a fire truck to get down the road.

At the meeting, Mr. MacDonald said he would begin mapping out the new layout on Friday, September 21. Once the new map is created, it needs to be approved by the board and Chief Gonce.

“This should have been long ago done,” Mr. Frano said. “Can I suggest that for next year’s plan, you start one week after this is all done—that’s how long it takes.”

Other concerns, regarding garbage and bathrooms, were addressed by Ms. Bass, who noted that there will be 10 bathrooms—the two attached bathrooms at the chamber of commerce building on Glovers Lane, and eight portable toilets—and at least 10 or 12 garbage cans placed throughout Main Street.

Although Ms. Moore said that the plans were submitted late, she noted that the festival was very successful in past years—although she noted that some Main Street merchants do not support closing the street.

“I personally think and believe that something like this, and closing Main Street, increases business exponentially, and that’s why I’m supporting this,” Mr. Tymann said.