By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — In 2019, the Maine Blues Festival saw a drastic drop in attendance from the usual 5,000 people to 4,000, with some venues refusing to participate in the festival.

During a lengthy and sometimes passionate discussion with Kevin Kimball, one of the founders of Maine Bluesfest, the Naples Board of Selectmen ultimately decided to host a series of meetings to get the input from business-owners on how to make the festival safer and more successful.

 Kimball said the Bluesfest did reduce its advertising budget by 25 percent this year and the cutback in advertising may have contributed to the lackluster attendance.

Additionally, Kimball said many local business-owners are concerned about the future of the festival.

Chairman Jim Grattelo encouraged the Bluesfest organizers to beef up the advertising in 2020. Meanwhile, sometime after ‘the holidays,’ the selectmen will extend invitations to business-owners to talk about what is working and what needs to be improved regarding the Bluesfest.

On Dec. 16, the Town of Naples and the Maine Blues Festival was renewing the lease of the brick building on the Village Green.

Selectman Jim Turpin asked a series of questions of Kimball that sparked off a lively discussion.

“Is it the general intent of the Bluesfest to bring in as many people as possible. You said the attendance dropped because of less advertising because we song and danced you around the lease last year,” Turpin said. “So, what do you see happening this year? What is the interest levels among the various venues?”

Kimball answered.

“To be very candid, they got stung and it got noticed. They weren’t passive observers in all the went on. It raised some eyebrows month the venues —it did,” he said.  

“The general consensus I got is: ‘What the hell? Is this how it’s going to be from now on? I’ve been trying to reassure them. We are going to move on. They are watching. They are taking a watch-and-wait attitude. They are more cautious because they aren’t as confident as they once were before,” Kimball said, pausing for a long moment before choosing the word ‘confident.’ 

“I can see a change in the mood. It’s not because they are soured on the festival per say. It was the experience of last year that hit a sour note,” Kimball said.

Turpin responded, asking what the goals were for the Bluesfest organizers and how the board could help those to be achieved. 

“It is an important cash infusion to the businesses in town. We can do as much as we can to bring as many people as we can,” he said.

Kimball spoke.

“Someone remarked to me after this year’s festival, ‘Well, it seemed like a more manageable size.’ That was not what we were shooting for . . .  We would rather see our attendance up,” Kimball said.

Selectman Kevin Rogers spoke.

“I would like to point out from Day One, the Bluesfest has paid attention to sanitation, security — they reached out the sheriff’s office,” he said.  “They worked on transportation, auxiliary parking.”

“Everything that everyone is bending over backwards over, the mass gathering ordinance, the Bluesfest has covered every base to the utmost,” Rogers said.

“What was different from last year: liquor enforcement and the state fire marshal’s office,” Rogers said, adding that each business is capable of making sure its staff follows public safety rules involving occupancy and serving alcohol.  

“The difference is that someone invited, or rather, liquor enforcement invited themselves and the fire marshal invited themselves, too,” he said.

“It really tarnished” the festival for business-owners, Rogers said.

Selectman Bob Caron disagreed.

“I have an issue with that because now all I’m hearing is: because you as a business, because your job is to serve people who are coherent and don’t get them drunk” because of that, the business does not need the state liquor enforcement to oversee it, Caron said.

“You are saying it is okay for the town of Naples to have an event [without following state liquor laws] that’s what it sounds like,” Caron said.

Grattelo also disagreed with Rogers’ comments.

“You said the Bluesfest was tarnished because liquor enforcement interjected themselves into the town. Those are the two things we are elected to do: provide safety for our citizens” and to follow state law, Grattelo said.

Rogers interrupted with a sarcastic comment.

“Let’s go out every Saturday night and find three underage drinkers. Let’s make that our job,” he said.

Rogers took a breath and said, “I agree it is our responsibility. But we shouldn’t target it.”

Grattelo took back the floor.

“More importantly, we cannot let 300 people in room that was designed for 250.” he said.

Rogers was referring to the violations of serving alcohol to a minor that occurred during the Bluefest. Grattelo was referring to occupancy limits, which are set by the state fire marshal but are not posted in many businesses.

Turpin restated that if it was the goal of festival organizers, the selectmen could help with increasing attendance.  

“We want to make this profitable for businesses and safe,” Turpin said.

Caron agreed.

“And safe. It has to be safe for residents and for guests that drive through,” Caron said.