As a Keene State College student and a member of the community, it is disappointing that the Keene City Council truly believed there was no other solution but to deny the license for the Keene Pumpkin Festival. The Keene City Council denied a license for the 2015 Pumpkin Festival Thursday night. The council voted 13-to-1 to deny the request for a license submitted by Let It Shine, the nonprofit organization that has run the festival for the past 24 years. I believe that there were other options and that Keene could learn from Amherst, Massachusetts’ Blarney Blowout, in which precautionary measures were taken to prevent an abundance of arrests and wild riot-like behavior. Each year, the town of Amherst holds a festival for St. Patrick’s Day called the Blarney Blowout. Students from the University of Massachusetts and other universities nearby come to the festival to participate, much like the KSC students and others participate in the Keene Pumpkin Festival.
Last year, 70 people were arrested or summoned at the Blarney Blowout and there were crowds of up to 4,000 people, according to MassLive.com. In year past, students used to crowd the streets, being patrolled by police in riot gear. Each year, it seemed like the damage done at the Blarney Blowout was getting worse and worse. In order to stop this pattern, the town of Amherst took many preventative measures. First, they hired former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis to review what happened and offer strategies for prevention. Davis advised Amherst on the changes they should make in order to help change the campus culture so the festival may continue. Amherst’s goal was to calm down the festivities occurring during the Blarney Blowout and, by following Davis’s suggestions, they were able to see change, have a safe festival and reach their goal.
According to The Boston Globe, there were only six arrests and crowds were not an issue this year. There were a total of 14 police departments present and none were dressed in riot gear. In addition, six bars agreed to delay opening until 4 p.m.
John KEEFE / EQUINOX STAFF
Police blocked entrances to streets or apartment complexes where crowds had been known to gather in past years. According to MassLive, Amherst also hosted a concert featuring Ke$ha, Juicy J and Ludacris for students to attend instead. A total of 5,200 students attended the concert. The university banned all out-of-town guests from residence halls. Only those with permits were allowed to park on campus.
Keene can be credited with taking some preventative measures this year, but Keene, as well as everyone else, knows that it was not successful. KSC changed the guest policy for on-campus residents at the college, landlords threatened eviction for any tenant who hosted a party and police were present in riot gear.
But that just wasn’t enough. Amherst’s Blarney Blowout has proven that more extreme measures need to be taken in order to be successful in hosting a calm and safe festival. They have also proven that these measures are possible and yield results.
When you add up all of the costs to taking these preventative measures, there is no way to deny that it is a large bill. However, if the City of Keene truly wanted the Pumpkin Festival to continue then it would take on the task of making the festival a safe and enjoyable one for all. The alternative is property damage, injuries, legal costs and the loss of business downtown. Or, of course, not to have the festival at all, which is the route Keene has chosen.
Keene could have taken the Blarney Blowout as an example of what is possible and what needs to be done to turn a festival around. Keene wouldn’t have to pay for someone to come in and make suggestions. Instead, they could have simply taken everything Amherst applied to the Blarney Blowout and applied it to Keene’s Pumpkin Festival. Ruth Sterling, the event manager for Let It Shine’s Keene Pumpkin Festival, told the Union Leader, “This is the Keene Pumpkin Festival. We’re famous for it . . . It’s what we do. It’s who we are and we need to try a little harder . . . I’m going to keep believing in miracles.” Like Sterling, I believe that Keene gave up far too easily on the Pumpkin Festival. If they had considered all possible options, they could have made some great changes that would have immeasurable benefits to the festival. By fundraising and paying the cost, Keene could have had the best of both worlds — the festival and a safe community.
Taylor Howe can be contacted at thowe@kscequinox.com
