Organizers of the annual Winslow Family 4th of July celebration said the event appears poised to remain in the town, although town officials said Monday a permit for the event depends on whether the town can get help from other communities with police coverage.
“At the last meeting, we assumed everything was good to go because (the town) lowered the bill for what we needed and we agreed to the price for that bill,” said Kevin Douglass, chairman of the Winslow Family 4th of July volunteer committee. “We then moved along and said we are dedicated to keep it in Winslow.”
Organizers said last month that the $11,000 estimated by the Winslow police department to provide police coverage of the event that draws about 70,000 over three days — nearly 10 times the town’s population — was too high.
Town officials have revised the price to $8,325 to provide police coverage at the celebration, but a permit for the event has not yet been granted, said Town Manager Michael Heavener.
The town of Winslow has a police department of 11 officers, and Heavener said the celebration will require police from other towns to help in Winslow during the three days.
“That’s a challenge for us because other agencies aren’t going to order somebody else to come here to work,” Heavener said. “It would have to be someone who volunteers to come here and work. That’s a challenge for us and we’re working on it.”
Winslow Director of Parks and Recreation Jim Bourgoin said the town is committed to working with the celebration organizers on keeping the festival in town, although public safety remains an issue.
“It’s both our goals to have it in Winslow this year,” Bourgoin said. He said it is premature to say the town will grant a permit to the celebration until it’s known if enough police officers can be found to staff it.
“We’re all trying to step up to make sure there’s a celebration,” he said. “I think it’s an important thing any time you can bring people into our community. It’s just a matter of making sure that for a town of our size, if we’re going to host people, that they’re safe.”
Another meeting between town officials and organizers is planned for Wednesday, and Douglass and Winslow Family 4th of July board of directors Chairman Gerald St. Amand said that with the lower estimate for police costs they are confident the celebration will continue in Winslow.
“It looks like both groups are working to make it happen and keep it in Winslow this year,” said St. Amand, who’s also the chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “Everybody enjoys the parade. It’s a big thing in the town of Winslow.”
St. Amand said the celebration has gotten bigger and “a lot more involved” over the last several years, even though the celebration has been reduced from a week-long celebration to just three days in recent years.
The relationship between the town and celebration organizers has improved since last summer, according to Douglass, when organizers contacted neighboring Fairfield about moving the event to that town. That discussion was quickly cut short, but last month, the celebration’s future was called into question again when the Winslow Police Department provided the group with the $11,000 estimate. In past years the cost for police coverage has been between $4,000 and $7,000, Douglass said.
Douglass said the agreement came out of a realization by all involved about the importance of the event.
“It’s so much more than an event,” he said. “It’s a celebration of Independence Day,” honoring the country’s troops both now and in the past, “those men and women who brought us the freedom” that makes America what it is.
Still, Heavener said that if the celebration was held somewhere else, “we certainly would be okay with that.”
“That’s primarily because of the strain that it does put on our resources and concerns about staffing within the police department,” he said.
The Winslow Family 4th of July has been held in the town for 26 years and includes a parade, live music, contests and fireworks at Fort Halifax Park on the banks of the Kennebec River. The event is put on by volunteers and run by a nonprofit group with a board of directors.
It typically costs $50,000 to $60,000 to put on the event. Event organizers in past years have struggled to raise enough money in donations to help pay that cost and have had trouble attracting volunteers.
Last month, Police Chief Shawn O’Leary said issues that drove the increased cost of public safety coverage included extra money that is needed to bring in up to six extra officers from nearby police departments to provide backup. O’Leary declined to comment Monday.
A state-funded Kennebec County underage drinking task force previously had provided the extra officers for the busiest nights of the celebration at no charge to the town or event, but that group disbanded in 2014, he previously said. Last year, O’Leary decided to go ahead without bringing in additional officers. But a driver leaving after the fireworks almost crashed into a group of people, making O’Leary realize more police coverage is needed.
“This year, we said we need to have some officers dealing with the crowds as they are exiting the park,” he said.
Douglass said Monday organizers are contacting nonprofit organizations that may want to be involved, and that the event can always use more volunteers.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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