start up the dueling banjos (coventry content)

[boogieknight]

Rebel Coventry landowners eye Phish profits

Special Phish section

By Andy Netzel

Free Press Staff Writer

COVENTRY -- The 70,000 Phish fans coming into Coventry with a ticket to the Vermont jam band's final show will have a spot to camp on one of several properties organizers have secured.

It's the unknown number of ticketless Phish followers that worries police and promoters. Both are trying to stop neighbors whose property was passed over as concert spots from leasing their land to those without a pass to the show.

The choice Great Northeast Productions Inc. made when slating Coventry for the show has created two types of landowners near the concert site: those who are being paid by Phish and those who want to be paid despite Phish's wishes.

Meet Dan Gauvin and John Mead.

Gauvin is leasing a few acres to Great Northeast Productions. Mead is renting campsites abutting the Phish-sanctioned campsite to those who don't have a ticket to the show.

Opinions differ on private landowners' role on the Aug. 14-15 concert weekend.

Mead believes he has every right to try to turn a profit on the mega-concert. Police and promoters, though, say adding auxiliary spots for unticketed visitors risks their choreographed effort to keep the town safe and accessible during the show weekend.

Mead said he would have considered leasing his land to the concert promoters if they had been interested, but he's willing to face the tremendous opposition from the production company and Vermont State Police to make his money.

Mead meets today to listen to the concerns of the two groups. Great Northeast Productions has asked police to stop these renegade campsites so the crowd stays manageable. Police are concerned too many additional fans pouring onto the site will overwhelm public safety and health efforts. Mead said these arguments aren't likely to change his mind.

Dan Gauvin

Gauvin plays a dual role in Phish's plans for the large concert.

He's a state employee who runs the Vermont-owned Newport State Airport in Coventry. Part of that property is where the tens of thousands of ticketholders will sleep. He also owns buildings and other property on five acres near the airport that he's renting to band organizers. They will stow trailers and use the property for logistical purposes.

Gauvin said he has received calls from dozens of Phish-heads who had hoped to fly into the airport for the concert from places as far away as Florida, Arizona and Texas.

Because the airport will be closed for the days surrounding the Phish show, he'll miss out on the money he could have made providing aircraft maintenance, storage and selling fuel. Gauvin rents land from the state at the airport to provide these services and teach flying lessons.

He's still making money on the deal, although perhaps not as much as he could.

When Phish organizers approached him in February, he was intrigued and later accepted an offer.

"It's a hard country up here," Gauvin said. "Jobs are hard to come by. If this helps you get through a year and breathe a little better, then good."

Not everyone can benefit, he said, but everyone in the Kingdom should be happy for those who do.

He didn't seriously consider trying to go it alone without Phish, he said. He has had no regrets. The Phish organization is treating him well, he said.

"Just to be part of history in the making is worth it," Gauvin said. "We'll have the biggest party in the history of Vermont in our back yard."

John Mead

Mead intends to turn about 20 acres next to the Phish-sanctioned camping area into a party area for Phish followers who don't have a way into the show.

Access to the concert grounds isn't included in a ticket to the Mead land, but the music will be audible. People camping on his grounds will see ticketholders on adjoining property.

He's heard pleas from neighbors, Phish organizers and the Vermont State Police not to allow 200 ticketless fans to camp on the land. Mead leases the land from his brother. He used to farm it to feed his 150 Holsteins. He sold them two years ago and now milks cows on his brother's farm.

Mead said he's just trying to offer something to fans, make his cut from the concert and watch something he can't imagine: tens of thousands of people living in Coventry.

The opposition, he said, illustrates how Coventry residents are prevented from capitalizing on the event.

"I have this piece of property and they go and get angry at me," Mead said. "I don't think they really care about people in this area."

However, State Police Maj. James Dimmick said caring about the community is the reason for the concern.

"Everything we have set up is for maxing out at 70,000 people," Dimmick said. " There is some wiggle room , but enticing more people to the area gets in the way of public safety and public health."

Police are first going to ask those offering camping to reconsider. If that fails, Dimmick said, other avenues will be considered: They could, for example, close roads to prevent would-be campers from reaching private lands. The police would do that to provide good access for emergency and public safety vehicles, Dimmick said.

Adam Lewis, spokesman for Great Northeast Productions, said the company doesn't want to stop residents from making money. However, the company has a responsibility to the people attending the show and those who live near it.

"All the land we're renting is within a manageable and controlled area," he said. "It's all in the interest of public safety."

Dimmick said events that attract 2,000 people or more require an assembly permit. Mead doesn't intend to lure that many, so he doesn't require a permit.

Mead plans to invite 200 campers to the area next to the concert. Those spots cost $200 apiece. A little farther away, he'll offer another 800 campers a spot in his back yard where they'll be able to hear, but not see, the concert site. There, he said, it will be private and in the woods. Those spots cost $75 each.

"As far as my own land, I know I can do what I want," Mead said. "I don't have a clue what 70,000 people are. I don't have a clue. I'm going to find out what it is, though, same as everyone else."

I do like the part about wiggle room. Makes me wonder about the tickets at the gate rumors