Oktoberfest Entry Fee Dropped

CHATHAM – With more entertainment and activities planned for this year’s Oktoberfest, chamber of commerce and merchants association officials had hoped to charge a $5 entry fee to help cover the increased costs. 

 Those hopes were dashed, however, after pushback from both residents and town officials.

 While the select board did not take a vote following a lengthy discussion at its Sept. 24 meeting, its position was clear: collect voluntary donations and don’t charge an entry fee.

 “It’s not perfect but I think it solves everybody’s problems,” said Chair Michael Schell.

 About 100 people had paid the $5 fee online, said chamber board member Kristin Muller. All have been offered the option of a refund or converting the payment into a donation, she said in an email after last week’s meeting.

 Scheduled for Oct. 19 at both Kate Gould Park and the town offices parking lot, Oktoberfest will feature more than a half dozen bands, vendors, beer, food trucks and kids’ activities. In the past, the event has been free. The chamber’s Oktoberfest webpage previously cited a $5 admission fee for those 13 years of age and older, but it has since been changed to reflect the decision to make the event free for everyone and that “a suggested donation would be appreciated.”

 It isn’t unheard of for there to be a fee for events taking place on town property; the Taste of Chatham, for instance, is held at Chase Park, with attendees paying a fee to enter a tent. The rest of the park remains open to the public during the event, however. 

 Other events accept donations or do not charge a fee. First Night activities on town property are generally button-free, and the Creative Arts Center’s Festival of the Arts in Chase Park has no admission charge, with donations accepted at the park entrance. The summer Cape Cod Shakespeare in Chatham in Kate Gould Park is free.

 Charging a fee to enter Kate Gould Park was problematic in the eyes of some because in her will donating the land to the town, Kate Gould stipulated that no business occur there. The chamber and merchants plan had been to close off the Main Street entrance to the park and funnel attendees to the parking lot off Chatham Bars Avenue, which is not subject to the will, where admission bracelets would be sold. Organizers had hoped to pre-sell bracelets online to avoid lines, Muller said at the select board meeting.

 The event has expanded “significantly” this year, she said, with rented stages and hired bands bumping the budget between $10,000 and $20,000. Sponsorships from local businesses help offset costs, but the entry fee was seen as a way to help break even, with any leftover funds donated to local charities, she said.

 “This is not a moneymaker,” Muller said. “The fee is not a money grab. It’s about controlling entry and exit on a really large event.”

 Town counsel opined that the will’s prohibition did not preclude the entry fee, Schell said, but the larger question was whether it was appropriate to charge a fee at all. He said he’d heard from about 20 residents and was troubled by their concerns. Select board member Jeffrey Dykens said he was “taken aback” when he read about the $5 admission fee. “I don’t think we ought to be charging $5 for admission to Oktoberfest,” he said, which is not “in the spirit of the event.” He “strongly” suggested a voluntary donation rather than a mandatory entry fee.

 The select board initially granted permission for the organizations to hold Oktoberfest on town property in May. At the time, there was no mention of an entry fee.

 Other Cape events have even higher entry fees, said merchants board member Barry Desilets. The Wellfleet Oyster Festival charges $33, he said, and the Bass River Festival $30. The Oktoberfest fee was set lower “simply because we’re trying to cover our costs,” Muller said. 

 The intent of Oktoberfest, she said, is to draw people to town during the off season when businesses are “trying to make that last little bit of money before everything shuts down for the winter. It’s about commerce; it’s about celebrating with the locals.”

 Select board member Dean Nicastro said he was troubled that people would be charged to enter a public park. 

 Eileen Our, a park commissioner for 21 years, noted the prohibition against doing business in the park and said she was concerned if the town ignored Kate Gould’s will, people would no longer donate land to the town.

 John Hallgren said he thought charging a fee would reduce attendance. Elaine Gibbs said there’s no guarantee that collecting fees would result in the donation of surplus funds to charities. Closing off the park to the general public for the entire day, she added, was “totally inappropriate.”

 The chamber and merchants accepted the select board’s wishes and are moving forward with asking for donations rather than charging an entry fee, Muller said in an email. Depending on how the event goes with donations, it may be scaled back next year, she told the select board.