Update: At 5:26 p.m. on June 10, the Berkshire Edge received a statement from Andy Potter who spoke in his individual capacity and not as a member of the West Stockbridge Select Board or on behalf of the town.
Here is Potter’s statement:
As a citizen and longtime supporter of the Zucchini Festival, I find it disappointing that Mr. Piasecki has chosen to withdraw Wiseacre Farm’s financial support for what is fundamentally a community-led, independent celebration. The Zucchini Festival is not a municipal event—volunteers organize it through a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity and do not operate under the town’s direction.
While Mr. Piasecki has raised concerns about the Host Community Agreement (HCA) and the use of Community Impact Fees, tying those concerns to the festival’s funding strikes me as misdirected. The festival is not responsible for decisions made by the town or the Select Board, and it’s regrettable to see a beloved community tradition caught in the middle of this situation.
Original article:
West Stockbridge — The town’s annual Zucchini Festival may look a bit different this year after the event’s major donor pulled out. Just how different it will be may become clear in a couple of weeks.
Local cannabis facility Wiseacre Farm has declined to contribute the $10,000 gift it has donated to the program over the past two years, amounting to about half of the festival’s budget. As a result, the iconic project set for August 9 may be forced to scale down its efforts, with patrons seeing a diminished fireworks display and possibly other downsizes, said Marjorie Powell who chairs the festival and its sponsor, the West Stockbridge Cultural Council.
Powell appeared at the June 9 Select Board meeting requesting the town cover the hiring of police officers for the event since her funds have been cut short, with those security costs estimated to be $2,800 to $3,400. “We lost one of our biggest sponsors with Wiseacre Farm,” she addressed board members, adding that the next two weeks would prove what other donations the event might acquire. “That was a big chunk of money. We’ll cut back on certain things.”
Previously, Wiseacre Farm’s contribution paid for the police detail and fireworks, Powell said, with vendor booth fees and ticket and merchandise sales covering tent rental and bus costs. However, Select Board member Kathleen Keresey pointed out that the town’s budget this fiscal year didn’t include paying for the event’s police coverage.
The festival had endured for decades until it hit a snag, stopping for about a decade due to a lack of volunteers, Powell said. Two years ago, the program picked up, with Powell attributing its success to Piasecki’s donations that allowed the group to acquire the needed infrastructure for the event. Now that the event pieces have all been acquired, the program takes some of its funds from the previous year’s sales to assist in getting next year’s project off the ground.
Powell told The Berkshire Edge that Piasecki consistently contributed to the festival, even before he founded Wiseacre Farm. “He has donated to it, he has worked it, so he was very fond of the Zucchini Festival,” she said. “Us bringing Zucchini Festival back for the last two years, that sponsorship helped us tremendously rebuild all of the games that we had [from previous years]. If we didn’t get that sponsorship, I’m not sure we would have been able to put that on.”
According to Powell, many businesses and individuals contribute annually to the “community event” that brings together both newcomers and longtime neighbors. The program relies on about 100 volunteers for its success, she said.
Although the festival is anticipated to be clipped, Powell said it will still be “a great festival” and hopes that, should money come in, activities may be added in the last minute. A crew is working to acquire donations, and everyone who works on the festival, including musicians, contributes their time, she said.
“It’s run by the community; it’s for our community and the community of the Berkshires as well,” Powell said of the 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. family-friendly event that supports regional vendors and artists. “It’s a lot of fun and [has] things to do. It’s a good thing.”
Piasecki told The Berkshire Edge that “until the Select Board follows the law, our donations are on pause.” Specifically, he stated town officials have declined to renegotiate the Host Community Agreement (HCA) between West Stockbridge and Wiseacre, with that contract governing the cannabis facility’s operations, or account for how the town spent the $52,000 Community Impact Fee Wiseacre paid to West Stockbridge last year. Piasecki also decried the lack of acknowledgement by the town of the new $300,000 odor-mitigation system employed by Wiseacre at West Stockbridge’s request to reduce the odors offending the facility’s neighbors. “In short, the approximately $350,000 we have either spent at the Select Board’s behest or outright given to the Select Board for the use of the town is the difference between our business being able to continue to just scrape by or us being in a position to continue annual charitable contributions to the many local endeavors we would like to fund, including the Zucchini Fest,” Piasecki stated.
Last month, as in a few previous months, the Select Board held an executive session to discuss the town’s strategy regarding litigation with Wiseacre Farm.
When asked for comment, Town Administrator Marie Ryan stated she is “not at liberty to discuss this.”
