Hearing over Great North music fest scheduled at Norridgewock Town Office

Residents of Red Barn Road will have the chance Thursday to weigh in on a music festival planned for Labor Day weekend in Norridgewock.

Gabe Kenney helps install an exhibit in the woods during preparations for the first Great North Festival in Norridgewock in 2013. Residents will have the chance to weigh in on this year’s festival permit at Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. Staff file photo photo by Michael G. Seamans

The Great North Music and Arts Festival has drawn complaints about noise in the two years it has been held at Last Breath Farm. Most recently, the Board of Selectmen discussed concerns about traffic congestion and traffic flow.

A public hearing on the event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Town Office.

“It’s going to be less (controversial) than last year,” Planning Board Chairman Scott Campbell said. “Mainly we’re addressing traffic and parking, people in the roads and noise levels.”

Last year’s festival drew about 3,800 people to Norridgewock, and ticket sales this year are being capped at 5,000. It is sponsored by production company Kind Mind Productions.

“I think they’ve been excellent to work with so far,” Campbell said. “So far they’ve done everything we’ve asked.”

There is no noise ordinance in Norridgewock, but a mass gathering permit is required for any gathering of more than 1,000 people under the town’s mass gathering ordinance. A public hearing is required as part of the permitting process, and the board is required to issue a decision granting or denying the permit within seven days of the public hearing.

Related Stories