Our View: Oktoberfest Misstep

It’s always a good idea to keep those in authority informed, especially when they can yank the carpet out from under you.

That’s exactly what the Chatham Chamber of Commerce and Chatham Merchants Association failed to do after deciding to charge a $5 entry fee for Oct. 19’s Oktoberfest. Instead of informing the select board, which gave the groups permission to use Kate Gould Park and the town offices parking lot for the event in May, they went ahead and advertised the fee. Officials read about it in this newspaper. Not cool.

That’s at least partly why the board pressured the chamber and merchants association to drop the mandatory fee and instead ask attendees for a $5 donation. Another reason cited by board members was how an entry fee like that violates the spirit of the event, which is advertised as family friendly. The chamber has never charged a fee before for events held on public property. Blocking the public from accessing a public park without paying the fee also clearly rubbed some select board members the wrong way.

We get the desire to make Oktoberfest bigger and better and understand that costs money. It would have been a better strategy to ease into the idea of raising money during the festival by starting off asking for donations before jumping to a mandatory entry fee. Chatham folks, including visitors, can be a generous lot, and we anticipate donations will go a long way to covering the higher costs.

 Lessons learned: Don’t keep members of the select board in the dark about your plans when they grant the permits you are relying on. And if you are going to make radical changes to a traditional public event, let everyone know about it well ahead of time.