Farmer's Market Moves, Parking Lot Closes for Mass MoCA Concert
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A double-whammy of alternative rock bands will be performing in the city on Saturday night so be prepared for an influx of traffic.
The two-time Grammy-nominated Modest Mouse and the highly influential Pixies will be playing at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's Joe's Field in a sold-out concert expected to draw at least 7,500 fans to North Adams.
Because of the event, the North Adams Farmers Market will move to 90 Main St. (the old TD Bank) for this Saturday only. It runs from 9 to 1 with music from 10 to noon by Jared Polens. Make a tote or T-shirt with the farmer's market log screenprinted for $20, $15 if you bring your own shirt or bag.
Mayor Jennifer Macksey said the St. Anthony's Municipal Parking Lot will be available to concertgoers on Saturday for a fee.
The city implemented an events parking fee of $40 a day one year ago in time for that year's Fresh Grass Festival. A pilot program had netted more than $11,000 in revenue months earlier at Solid Sound. The fee does not apply to city-sponsored events like the parade or Downtown Celebration.
The Center Street Parking Lot is also covered by the fee but the mayor said there will be a team at St. Anthony's but not at Center Street.
"It's only 7,500, which is a big number but compared to Fresh Grass, it's a smaller concert," Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday.
Councilor Peter Oleskiewicz noted that "during these large-scale events the people who do pay for permanent parking in the Center Street parking lot kind of lose their spot for a weekend."
The permanent parking spots will be marked off for this one-night event but there will be no monitors, the mayor said. "When we have Fresh Grass, we'll have monitors in that lot."
Fresh Grass runs over three days at Mass MoCA starting Friday, Sept. 22.
Council President Lisa Blackmer said there have been issues for residents on River Street and the side streets about parked cars on the streets and "about people parking and walking in their driveways."
The mayor said no-parking signs have been put up and early Saturday the city will start marking off along River, Williams, Liberty and North Holden streets.
"We can put up as much signage as we want but they still park around corners," she said.
Councilor Keith Bona asked about enforcement in places where there is legal parking but it's congested.
"We had a big to-do [from a concert last year] with parking and we realized that there were a lot of areas that were designated as no-parking that didn't have signs," said Macksey. "We made an investment in the signs and put those out. So that has hopefully remedied some areas but specifically if you go up Houghton Street and turn right onto Liberty Street, that is all parking but when you get parking all the way down the street, it turns into one lane.
"So we try to limit in it put up no-parking signs that day for the hills part and the corners. We do the best we can."
Tags: concerts,
