LIVERMORE — David and Jill Lovewell attended the Livermore Selectpersons meeting Tuesday night, July 6, to give updates on their Barnyard All Terrain business on Boothby Road.
“Jill and I want to keep the lines of communication open with the town,” David Lovewell said. “We stirred things up a little bit. We were stressed as were a lot of people.”
He wanted to see if the board had any questions and share plans going forward.
The Lovewells with their son, Josh own and operate the venue.
“How was this weekend,” Selectperson Tracey Martin asked. “I didn’t hear about anything bad happening.”
There were no calls, Selectperson Scott Richmond, who is also a member of the Livermore Fire Department, said.
Mud racing, live music and camping were held at Barnyard July 2-4. Fireworks were featured Saturday night.
“The sheriff’s deputy had a great time,” Jill Lovewell said. “She sat with us.”
A man fell off a bridge in the woods and an ambulance came but that wasn’t part of Barnyard, she said.
“I don’t anticipate it being quite as large as June,” David Lovewell responded when asked about the next planned event. “It’ll still be significant. There will be some calls obviously.”
Trucks Gone Wild will be held at Barnyard Aug. 6-8 with races, music and camping.
Society has changed, people very quickly call 9 1 1, David Lovewell said.
“In the past they’ve always come to the staff at the gate,” he said.
“There were a lot of hang-up calls,” Jill Lovewell said. “The majority of what 911 calls were could have been handled by our nine-man professional security team that comes with a trauma nurse. The fact that the cops were called, it totally surprised us too.”
Efforts to keep things under control were appreciated by Selectperson Tracey Martin.
“The police asked, ‘you’ve done this how long?’, we told them and they said ‘we don’t know who you are’,” Jill Lovewell said. “That’s a good thing. We have a very good relationship with the sheriff’s department.”
“We want to keep the lines open due to the fact that times have changed and publicity has changed,” David Lovewell said.
“A couple of strokes of a keypad and you’re famous,” Richmond said. “Not always in a good way.”
During the weekend of June 4 to 6, deputies, fire departments and emergency medical services from Turner Rescue and NorthStar EMS were called to the Boothby Road business where a mud run was taking place. Paid attendance that weekend was roughly 1,700.
On June 22 Barnyard owners met with Livermore officials and representatives from the State Police, Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Communication was stressed at that meeting. Suggestions for improvements included lights, a possible streetlight and informational signs about events and traffic.
Barnyard All Terrain plans to hire an additional sheriff’s deputy to help coordinate calls during events, Martin said afterwards. “They’re already hiring 12 private security; they have nurses on site.”
On Tuesday Selectpersons approved five new streetlights, one near the Barnyard on an existing pole about 50 feet from the intersection of River and Boothby roads.
The legislative body at Town Meeting approved a 15-year agreement with CMP to install LED bulbs in all streetlights with no upfront costs to the town, Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller said. The contract has been signed, more streetlights may be added, he noted.
Streetlights will also be installed at Dudley’s Corner (Turkey Lane), Boothby Road and Route 4, Long Green Variety and Norlands Road.
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