BOLTON \u2014 Going through a largely straightforward list of approvals, from bicycle fundraising rides to events at Cultivate Care Farms, the Select Board slowed to discuss the planned June 2023 Wachusett fire muster league event.<\/p>\n
The town is slated to host the annual event, which rotates between the eight member towns of the Wachusett Muster League; Bolton last hosted the event in 2013. Rutland did the honors in 2022.<\/p>\n
Firefighter Jeff Weinfurt of the Bolton Volunteer Fire Association said the group had looked at other locations in town, but the stretch of Main Street traditionally used for the event seemed the best location, given needs for flat surfaces and roads for events that range from firefighter races and tests to moving equipment.Most of the engines date from the 1930s to 1950s, and are largely restored by firefighter support organizations.<\/p>\n
But selectmen asked about other possible locations.<\/p>\n
Select Board Chairman Stan Wysocki said that closing that section of Route117 would cause issues, much more so than it had a decade ago. More traffic, plus a detour that would include tight turns for large trucks, had board members concerned.<\/p>\n
The event would be the first since the reconstruction of the intersection of Main Street and Wattaquadock Hill Road and the installation of traffic signals.<\/p>\n
Other locations would have required larger detours, Weinfurt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, it happened in the street\u201d and after looking at other locations, organizers came back to the same site. \u201cIt meets all the criteria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And it brings people to town and businesses, he said.<\/p>\n
But Wysocki had concerns about the impact to those along the stretch of road between Wattaquadock Hill Road and Manor Road, including the town library. Two businesses affected are typically closed on Saturdays.<\/p>\n
Margy Diaz of the department said the firefighters were not necessarily looking for an approval.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want you to understand we\u2019re looking at doing this,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want you to be informed as to what we\u2019re looking at as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wachusett Muster League includes the departments from eight local towns: Holden, Princeton, Rutland, Sterling, Bolton, Boylston, Harvard and West Boylston. The towns take turns hosting the Wachusett District Firefighters Muster each year. The event includes firefighters competing in four events that test their skills and speed.<\/p>\n
Wysocki expressed concerns about large trucks navigating up and down Manor Road and onto Main Street during the event.<\/p>\n
Weinfurt said the firefighters would be working with state transportation officials to put a sign on the highway a week or two in advance so motorists would be aware, as well as working with the town Department of PublicWorks.<\/p>\n
Organizers said they had already discussed the detours with the police chief, including a police detail at the intersection.<\/p>\n
The board ultimately tabled the issue until a meeting in September to gather more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BOLTON \u2014 Going through a largely straightforward list of approvals, from bicycle fundraising rides to events at Cultivate Care Farms, the Select Board slowed to discuss the planned June 2023 Wachusett fire musterleague event. The town is slated to host the annual event, which rotates between the eight member towns of the Wachusett Muster League; Bolton last hosted the event in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}