In preparation for the Beach Road Weekend music festival in late August to be held at Veteran’s Park in Vineyard Haven, Tisbury’s police chief and fire chief have asked the Steamship Authority to divert its 8:30 p.m. ferry departure on August 26, 27 and 28 from Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven in order to accommodate an estimated 800 off-Island ticket holders when performances end at 8 p.m.
But the boat line’s board of governors, meeting Tuesday morning online, gave a series of thumbs-down to the request, which was relayed through SSA general manager Robert Davis.
It’s not the first time festival organizers have asked the SSA to accommodate them, said Martha’s Vineyard governor James Malkin, relating a dialogue he said took place over the past winter.
“Myself and the port council members were approached by the Beach Road promoter and organizer who wished us to add additional trips to take people to and from the concert,” Mr. Malkin said. “We made it very clear that the Steamship Authority is not a charter operation for individual businesses or events, it runs a service that provides goods and transportaton to the people who live and commute and travel back and forth to the Island.
“We also told the organizer that we would not take bulk reservations for passengers coming back and forth, and suggested he look at the capacity and do what he could, which might include limiting the number of tickets,” Mr. Malkin said.
Ferry diversions — usually for weather or mechanical reasons — already rankle Oak Bluffs leaders, Mr. Malkin said, citing a select board meeting at which he and port council member Joe Sollitto were called in to discuss the loss of embarkation fees and local business revenue that result when boats are diverted to another port.
“Unless the select board of Oak Bluffs is willing to do this because of the public safety issue, I have a very hard time supporting any changes to our schedule, and our docking, and our deployment of crew, for a single businesses that may have gotten ahead of itself,” Mr. Malkin concluded.
Falmouth governor Peter Jeffrey and Barnstable governor Robert Jones backed up Mr. Malkin’s position, saying that without a compelling risk to public safety, they would not support the festival’s requests.
“I’m also concerned about its impact on the town Falmouth, of increased traffic as well as a lack of coordination of a single business to [consider] the Oak Bluffs community as well as the town of Falmouth,” Mr. Jeffrey said.
Vineyard Haven fire chief Greg Leland told the Gazette Tuesday night that he did feel there were safety issues, adding that the boat line’s board of governors has not agreed to hear from the Tisbury public safety officials making the request.
“We’ve attempted to have a conversation with them,” said Chief Leland, adding that he and Chief Habekost both see the diversion as an imperative.
“Absolutely, we need to have that done,” the fire chief said.
Festival proprietor Adam Epstein told the Gazette Tuesday that not only did the diversion request not come from his organization, but that he also did not ask for extra ferry trips when meeting with SSA officials in late February, as Mr. Malkin asserted Tuesday.
“I did not make that request,” Mr. Epstein said. “I was misrepresented. Those allegations were untrue.”
Mr. Epstein also told the Gazette that Oak Bluffs itself requests a diversion of the 8:30 departure during Illumination Night in August to reduce traffic in town.
Mr. Jones said at the meeting that the Beach Road Weekend organization should consider chartering vessels to return its off-Island customers to the Cape.
“Private enterprise, they just can’t dictate the [SSA] transportation schedule,” Mr. Jones said.
“There are people that have more flexibility, but we don’t have the privilege,” he added. “I can’t support this.”
With no objection from Nantucket governor Robert Ranney or New Bedford governor and board chair Moria Tierney, Mr. Davis said he would confirm with Oak Bluffs town officials that they support retaining the 8:30 p.m. departure.
The 8:30 p.m. ferry from Oak Bluffs is not the boat line’s last daily departure from Martha’s Vineyard; the Island Home leaves Vineyard Haven daily at 9:45 p.m.
Story has been updated to correct that the request to have the ferry diverted to Vineyard Haven came from Tisbury public safety officials and to include comments from the Tisbury fire chief and event organizer.
