Portland Fair Canceled

The Portland Agricultural Fair scheduled for October 7-9 has been cancelled by Don Bascom, President of the Fair Association, after the Board of Selectmen failed to support a zoning exception at a meeting on Wednesday night.

Board members considered findings presented by fire officials who said sufficient improvements could not be made in time on the Jarvis property, the new site chosen for the fair after the fairgrounds were determined to be unusable following the rain from Hurricane Irene.

Fire Chief Rober Shea and Fire Marshall Ray Sajdak said they could not sign off because not enough water could be made available in case of a fire. Shea also said the grounds currently used for haying was uneven and difficult for a large engine to get across and get into position to attack a fire. They also expressed a need for detailed information about propane tanks that might be used and their locations. There also was some concern for the safety of pedestrians because of the proximity of the new site, located near routes 66 and 17. Police officials were calling for the installation of a fence along Route 66 to guard pedestrians.

Officials felt they needed 250 gallons a minute to control an active propane leak or fire. That amount of water, they said, could be pumped from a nearby pond and carried by pipe or 3-inch hose to a central location where a truck would pump water to a fire engine attacking any fire. Shea said about 2,000 feet of hose or equivalent pipes would be required, which along with a pump, would involve planning and installation and then testing.

The public safety report drew an angry response from Bascom, who asked where the need for 2,000 feet of hose came from, "because it wasn't mentioned Friday" when there was only a discussion of a 400-foot section and a pump. Bascom promised they'd work on it and  now suddenly there were new conditions.

Shea explained they mapped it out in a 3 hour and 30 minute meeting with top lieutenants of the department who came away unable to support the plan.

The chief said they also needed to line up one truck from another town to provide coverage. They've made calls but haven't gotten a response, probably because time was so tight. Bascom asked if he could make calls, and Shea responded, "Make all the calls you want."

Shea added that gravel trails were needed so trucks could get to all areas of the fair and that it wouldn't be safe to operate big engines on grass or rough terrain. He noted there would be a ferris wheel and if it got stuck it would be the job of the fire department to get people down. Portland couldn't provide a tower ladder with a proper platform,  and that on rough terrain the stabilizer bars might not deploy. 

Selectman Brian Flood eventually interceded.

"You're coming to the town for help and you're attacking the experts who would provide public safety," he said to Bascom. "It doesn't make sense to me."

Bascom said Shea is saying he can't do it in three weeks, "and I can't believe a fire department can't solve an emergency in three weeks."

Flood went on to say he couldn't understand the hostility toward the town and the volunteers who "risk their lives every day."

Bascom argued that improvements could have been attempted, and said the fair would lose $20,000 dollars because of lost contracts and refunds to donors. Even with insurance, he said the fair would be at least $10,000 dollars in the hole next year.

It was other members of the Association that encouraged Bascom to take a close look at the time frame. Several got up and said there just wasn't time enough to do all the things that were necessary.

One was Susan Young.

"There is one thing we can't buy or manufacture and that's time," she said.

Young said sadly there was not enough.

The board was being asked to sponsor the fair before the matter was to come before the planning and zoning commission to get an exception for the property which is zoned as industrial.

First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield said the consensus of the board members was to decline to take action because of liability and safety issues raised by fire officials. Bransfield said, however, the town would support the fair in other ways and help to hold it next year.

Bransfield thanked members of the Fair Association for coming to the meeting and for their many hard hours of work to plan the fair this year. Other selectmen were conciliatory saying citizens and businesses who donanated money would probably not ask for it back, and would hope it could be bound over for next year.

Selectman Mark Finkelstein said in the case of the recent cancellation of fireworks for the year to his knowledge none of the donors asked for their money back. He asked Bascom if the Fair doners might have  the same frame of mind. 

Bascom responded that vendors and advertisers will demand refunds.   Some might expect to be paid because it would be too late for them to find alternative venues.

Bransfield invited Bascom to her office to help him register the fair with FEMA for possible aid. Bascom expressed interest in the help, but later said he didn't know how the fair could recover. He said he'd have to take a detailed inventory with members of the Fair Association.

Fair officials said on Sept. 14 that the site of the fair had to be moved from its traditional location at the Exchange Club grounds on 17A because that site and adjacent meadows were flooded by Hurricane Irene and possibly contaminated by sewage carried downstream.