Great Barrington — Back at the Selectboard meeting on March 11, the three members of the board present (Chair Steve Bannon, Vice Chair Leigh Davis, and member Garfield Reed) unanimously approved a request by Berkshire Busk! to close Railroad Street during its season in order to have live musical performances.
The event, entering its fourth season, is scheduled to start on June 19 and will run on Friday and Saturday nights, starting at 5:30 p.m.
During the public comment portion of the Selectboard meeting on Monday, April 29, over one month after the original meeting on the matter, business owners on Railroad Street spoke out against the road closure, including Karen Allen, owner of Karen Allen Fiber Arts on 8 Railroad Street. “We feel that it’s important to have our voices heard, even though we were unaware of the March 11 meeting, and I don’t believe anyone who has a store on Railroad Street came to that meeting,” Allen said. “There’s only three of us [store owners] here tonight, but the group of [store owners] on Railroad Street is about eight and growing who all have very strong and similar feelings about how detrimental this is to our businesses.”
Allen said that she and other store owners have spoken out against the road closure during the Berkshire Busk! events in the past. “We are not going to be silent as we go forward,” Allen said. “I know everybody likes to say that this has been good for us. It’s not good for us, and it has never been good for us. Honestly, hand on a Bible, not a person comes in our store [during Berkshire Busk! events].”
Connie Griffin, owner of Griffin on 4 Railroad Street, echoed Allen’s concerns. “We’re a tourist-driven town, and we’d like to be here year round for our clients and the people who live here all year,” Griffin said. “But we make our money in the summertime, and we see that people are being assailed, which is the word I would use about parking.” During Berkshire Busk! events, parking is not allowed on Railroad Street. There have been signs on Railroad Street posted during the event warning that cars parked on the street may be towed away.
“Even maybe a half hour before the actual towing begins, it is disconcerting,” Griffin said. “I’ve had customers come into the store, and they’ve said, ‘If I don’t get out of here in 15 minutes, I’m going to get towed.’ The bottom line is that it just sends completely the wrong message to our clients and the people that we want to have a great experience here in Great Barrington.”
Griffin suggested that if the event started later, around 6 p.m. when many of the businesses close, “it might be a way forward.” “It’s nothing against the Busk; it’s the interference,” Griffin said. “I realize that this has long been decided, but just wanted to give my two cents on it. I feel like we are the stakeholders in Railroad Street, and we have invested our money and our time, and it’s discouraging that we have to fight to be heard on this topic.”
The third business owner to speak was Paula Friedman, co-owner of Bernay Fine Art, at 296 Main Street on the corner of Railroad Street. “The main thing that goes on in the summer in our gallery is that we have a lot of gallery openings, which are usually later in the day,” Friedman said. “We usually have wine that we serve to our clients, 4 to 6 p.m. or 5 to 7 p.m., mostly on Saturday nights. Because of the Railroad Street closings, [our clients] don’t want to come to town on Saturday night. It has been very difficult to convince them. “We have nothing against the Busk,” Friedman added. “Everyone thinks it’s the Railroad Street retailers versus the Busk,” Friedman said. “We’re not opposed [to Berkshire Busk!]. But the closing [of the street] is detrimental to our businesses.”
During the Selectboard comments portion of the meeting, Selectboard member Garfield Reed said that he would like the board to reconsider the closing of Railroad Street during Berkshire Busk! next year. “It’s hard to ignore eight businesses, and that is a lot to be looked at,” Reed said. “I’m sure you can busk without closing [Railroad Street].”
“I want to make sure that we embrace all businesses in town,” Selectboard Vice Chair Leigh Davis said. “Sometimes there are compromises, sometimes we have to make a decision. As Garfield said, this will come before us again. Hopefully, we can find some middle ground.”
