STOCKBRIDGE — The Naumkeag historic house museum and garden will be limited to 15 outdoor events with amplified music — with the popular Winterlights and Pumpkin Walk attractions, which span several weeks, each counted as a single event.
And at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, the early-evening Music Mondays summer series, as well as wedding receptions, cannot include outdoor amplified music.
Those limitations and restrictions to nonprofits’ 2022 entertainment licenses were approved by the Select Board last week following extensive discussion focusing on concerns and complaints from neighbors.
“We need to make sure our nonprofits can maintain their viability economically,” said board Chair Roxanne McCaffrey. “On the other hand, we have to protect the quiet enjoyment of residents on their properties.”
Naumkeag
Operated by the statewide Trustees of Reservations, Naumkeag is the Gilded Age country estate built in the 1880s for New York attorney Joseph Choate.
Brian Cruey, director of the Trustees’ southern Berkshire sites, pointed out that the organization has eliminated hosting outdoor wedding receptions and reduced Thursday early-evening concerts from 15 to six.
For the popular Winterlights holiday season attraction, Naumkeag limited attendance and changed traffic patterns to reduce headlight impacts to neighbors from shuttle buses ferrying patrons to the site from Main Street.
Cruey pointed to a “dramatic decrease in the number of people allowed on the property, for the good of our neighbors and the sustainability of the property, although we do try to make it bigger and better for the guests who do come, to make it feel fresh and new.”
Opponents included neighbor Tom LaBelle, who contended that “the whole production is illegal” because, in his opinion, there has been “spot zoning” on behalf of Naumkeag and other nonprofits. “I’d like you to enforce the law,” he told the Select Board.
And Dr. Charles Kenny lamented the evolution of the nonprofits over the past 50 years from “wonderful artistic, historic credentials for the town to potential entertainment destinations, like Disney World.” He urged a central approach, applying to all the nonprofits, to continue their “original mandate” rather than as business enterprises.
But Naumkeag had support from Michael Abdalla, proprietor of Michael’s Restaurant, who cited the nonprofit for a “staggering” increase in his autumn season business, including a 40-year record for December this year.
Resident Shelby Marshall described Naumkeag’s events as typical for museums and historic homes nationwide, since they can’t sustain themselves by operating as they did 60 years ago.
“We need to balance neighborhood inconveniences and disruptions with the greater public and with the institution itself,” he said. “It’s up to us to determine how can we help Naumkeag manage the events so they are not disruptive to neighbors and still allow them to do things that are really good for them and good for a whole lot of people inside and outside of town.”
Botanical Garden
The Berkshire Botanical Garden, founded in 1934 as the Berkshire Garden Center, is the second-oldest nonprofit in Stockbridge, said Matthew Larkin, chair of the garden trustees. The summer Music Mondays series of nine concerts in July in August, which began in 2020, has become an important source of revenue, he said.
The amplified music series, typically attracting about 100 listeners from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., features jazz, big band and folk music.
Keith Knudsen, a nearby resident, objected to what he called “an entertainment venue, incompatible with the expected use of a botanical garden,” and contended that the music series causes “undue disruption and discomfort to almost all of the neighbors, who are really annoyed.”
He argued that the amplification is excessive and that the speaker placement results in an “assault of drumming all the time.”
Another neighbor, John Peyron, described amplified music as inconsistent with “serenity and this nice garden setting” and expressed concern that the music series might expand to other days of the week. He suggested acoustic, non-amplified music would be tolerable, in contrast to “being driven out of our house at times at night just to get away from noise.”
A Church Street resident, Harold French, told the Select Board that he could hear the music from a mile away.
“It does seem to be disruptive to any number of neighbors,” McCaffrey said, referring to the amplified music.
“I’m not inclined to go all or nothing on these decisions,” said Selectman Patrick White. “We’ve all got to come together and compromise.”
The board voted 3-0 to approve the annual entertainment license, ruling out outdoors amplified music for the Music Mondays series, and for weddings unless the music is in a tent.
