STARKS – The organizer of the annual Hempstock festival must have sharp mathematical and organization skills to avoid going to jail for violating an ordinance that limits the number of people at parties.

Don Christen is holding the marijuana advocacy event even though the town has rejected his application for a permit for the past two years.

Since Hempstock doesn’t have a permit, the number of people at the gathering cannot exceed 750 for more than six continual hours.

The music started at 6 p.m. Thursday, and Christen said it would continue through the weekend. The music will go for five hours, then guests will have to leave, then re-enter for another five hours of music.

Maine State Police Lt. Dale Lancaster said Friday that roadblocks to the Harry Brown farm Hempstock site were erected again Friday evening. He said that typically Thursday is a low turnout day and he expected traffic to be heavier Friday.

Thursday night, one person was arrested and a half-dozen cited for liquor or traffic violations, all outside the site. He said no violations were found inside the event site when a search warrant was executed Thursday night. “The music stopped at 10 p.m.,” he said, therefore no complaints of loud music were received.

The single arrest was of an irate Hempstock attendee who was apparently upset that roadblocks were in place, said Lancaster. At the roadblock, the attendee struck Maine State Trooper Sean Currie with his vehicle. “It was a glancing blow on Currie’s right thigh,” said Lancaster. “But it was hard enough to leave a paint transfer on Currie’s uniform pants.”

Steven Luce, 39, of Smithfield was arrested and taken to Somerset County Jail where he remained Friday afternoon.

Thursday, carloads of Hempstock-bound people crawled past the heavy police presence along Route 43.

Christen, founder of Maine Vocals, a pro-pot group, was monitoring the action from five miles away at his home in Madison. Bail conditions from a past arrest forbid him from going to Starks for the festival he created.

“They’re [the court] dictating how we run our show now,” Christen complained.

On Wednesday, Judge Joseph Jabar listened to Christen’s plan to have 700 campers all weekend and admit up to 4,500 people for five hours twice a day to keep from violating an injunction.

Jabar told Christen it was hard to believe he would successfully “skirt around the ordinance” with the plan he had in mind.

The judge slapped Christen with a sanctioned contempt charge last week, stating that if he goes ahead with the festival and violates the ordinance, he will face penalties.

If Christen violates the town’s mass-gathering ordinance, then he will spend 25 days in jail and pay a fine of $1,000 for each day that the festival violates the ordinance, the judge said.