Fan Stream Into County Audience arrives; let the show begin

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The mammoth cultural and economic event named Lemonwheel rolled into Maine on Friday, but not without hitting a few bumps en route to its weekend destination at the Loring Commerce Centre in Aroostook County.

While most of the estimated 70,000 fans of the musical band Phish drove uneventfully through the state to arrive at the site of the two-day concert, which opens today, a handful of accidents sent at least four people to the hospital. The event was soured for dozens of other Phish-heads when police and border officials confiscated drugs and issued summonses and fines.

But the majority of fans were simply glad to be traveling in Maine on a beautiful day, anticipating the performances of the band they love. The majority of Maine merchants were glad to see them arrive.

Thanks to solid preparation by the Department of Transportation and police, traffic flowed smoothly. Travel along Interstate 95 into Aroostook County moved well, with about 20 cars a minute getting off the highway onto Route 1 in Houlton at midafternoon Friday.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Pelletier of the Houlton Police Department said he felt that everyone involved with the event, from fans to businesses and police, had learned lessons from last year’s Phish concert and worked to make sure traffic moved smoothly.

Fans all along the route seemed glad to stop and talk about why they came.

David Devir, 24, traveled from Washington state to attend this year’s Lemonwheel concert. A native of New Hampshire, he said he has been a fan of the band since 1989, before they became popular.

Devir recently left a government research and development job in Oregon to return East and go to grad school. He and his brother John, 20, decided to tour the country as they returned.

“We’ve seen the sunrise four days in a row” since traveling from Utah, he said, adding that he had been driving 16 or 17 hours some days in order to make sure he was in Maine in time for Lemonwheel.

“I don’t tour with the band,” he said as he lunched on a hamburger and french fries near Houlton. “I just toured the country and then stopped here.”

Devir said he doesn’t follow the band around the country as do many fans. He said there are too many kids doing that who do illegal things such as selling drugs to make money.

He said that with the demise of the Grateful Dead, many of what he called “street trash” fans started following Phish around the country, doing whatever they could to get by.

“They’re right out of the ’60s and ’70s, like the Grateful Dead tour,” he said. “Some people dress up just to come to the concerts.”

Still, he described the Phish fans en route to Limestone as “the most peaceful fans you’ll find anywhere” The remoteness of the location, he said, tends to weed out some of the less desirable fans.

“People who come up here to Limestone tend to have a better attitude,” he said.

Belfast native Greg Hammond and his girlfriend, Christine Duer, made the four-day trip from Key West, Fla., just for the weekend shows in Limestone.

Hammond, a 30-year-old carpenter and musician, saw the band’s tour-ending shows as a chance to see one of his favorite groups and return to Maine.

Resting beside his Ford Econoline van at a rest area on Interstate 95 in Sidney, he said he enjoys the Vermont-based band’s eclectic blend of styles — jazz, blues, bluegrass and even funk. He finds a spirituality, a sense of peace, in communing with the band’s thousands of other devoted followers.

He and Duer plan to remain in Maine for a few days afterward, camping and visiting his hometown.

“We feel real welcome here,” said Hammond, who has seen about 20 Phish shows in the last four years, most of them in the South. “It’s really nice to come up here for a change of pace.”

Karen Kadlecik, a 28-year-old Phish fanatic from a Chicago suburb, said the variety and virtuosity of the band’s extended sets keep people returning for more.

She should know; she has seen more than 80 Phish gigs in the past seven years, including last year’s Great Went shows in Limestone.

Jason Osborn, 27, of Littlefield, Conn., has seen the band’s last three shows in Virginia, Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

“I’m on a two-week vacation. I’ve always wanted to do this,” said Osborn, who works for a company that makes cardboard pizza boxes and who plans to resume following the band in the fall.

“After this weekend, I’ll have seen 17 shows. I’m shooting for [a total of] 24 by the end of the year.”

Mike Nissen, 22, of Oregon strummed a guitar quietly as fellow Phish fans loaded up a four-wheel-drive vehicle in Shaw’s parking lot off Springer Drive in Bangor. A veteran of 200 Phish concerts — including eight shows in Europe within the past year — Nissen, a college student and musician, is a member of Phish’s volunteer “green crew.”

The green crew usually remains behind at every Phish concert, collecting recyclable containers and leaving the concert area clean. In return, they earn tickets to more Phish shows.

“The band likes to leave a good impression,” said Nissen.

Though some Mainers attempted to continue life as normal, they could not avoid the fuss surrounding the Vermont-based band.

A maintenance worker at the Sidney rest stop said the parking lot was so full when he reported for work Friday morning he had to park his state truck alongside the road.

He found Phish fans in sleeping bags on the grass, on picnic tables and in the backs of their vehicles.

“It’s a lot better sleeping over here than falling asleep on the road,” said the worker, who declined to give his name. “They’re good kids, real friendly people.”

For a lot of Mainers, the Phish fans represent an economic boost.

Patsy Fairbrother worked the grill in front of Shaw’s supermarket off the Hogan Road. By early afternoon she had sold more than 200 tofu hot dogs, garden burgers, and a vegetarian sausage made of soy protein. The $1 garden burger and lemonade special proved the most popular with Phish fans whom she called “very nice people.”

“They eat a lot of healthy food and drink a lot of beer,” said Fairbrother.

A Shaw’s employee, Fairbrother asked Phish customers to sign a guest book while they ate. In return, they were given a chance to win some $50 gift certificates.

People from Texas, California, Oregon and Virginia signed their names.

“A lot of people from Maine have signed the book, too,” Fairbrother said. One woman said she was meeting a friend who was flying in from Hawaii for the Lemonwheel concert, according to Fairbrother.

With traffic moving well, stores and gasoline stations near the I-95, Route 1 interchange did a brisk business throughout the day.

Jack Forbush, manager of the North Street Irving Mainway store in Houlton, said he ran out of regular gasoline at about 4:30 a.m. Friday.

“There are definitely more people than last year, no doubt about that,” said Forbush at the cash register Friday afternoon, adding that the fans seemed younger this year. “I think last year’s appearance made them want to come back and bring some of their friends.”

Not everyone, however, enjoyed waiting for the concerts to begin.

At the concert site near Limestone, the first few hours of Lemonwheel left a sour taste in the mouths of numerous members of the media, emergency medical technicians and others who were left waiting for credentials while thousands of Phish fans poured onto the camp ground.

Concert officials appeared disorganized as photographers, reporters and broadcasters expressed frustration at the apparent lack of preparation.

The gates were open at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, well ahead of the scheduled 9 a.m. Friday opening. No media, however, were allowed on the grounds until passes and other credentials were delivered almost 18 hours later.

Representatives of the American Red Cross in Aroostook County and some medical personnel initially were denied access to the site because of a lack of Phish-approved credentials.

“It’s like a prison,” said state police Sgt. Hugh Turner, who arrived to escort the Red Cross officials. “Everything’s locked down.”

When Phish employee Shelly Culbertson finally arrived at about 10 a.m., she said she was late because of waiting for the passes and credentials to be delivered to her.

Public relations officials for Great Northeast Productions, which produced the two-day event, apologized later Friday for the delay.

With the gates opening early, Great Northeast officials said that emergency services were in place when the fans were admitted to the concert grounds.

“We would never open the gates without having the proper facilities,” said Marji Bartholomew, a production coordinator.

NEWS reporters Wayne Brown, Nancy Garland, Mike Laberge and Debra Sund contributed to this report.