SOUTHWICK- The Board of Health voted unanimously to give Health Director Tammy Spencer authority to approve a plan to have a “float-in” concert on Congamond Lake in September.
Dennis Clark of the Southwick Rotary Club attended Thursday evening’s remote Board of Health meeting to pitch the idea of a float-in concert in the age of COVID.
Middle Pond of Congamond Lake could be the site of a float-in concert in September. (THE WESTFIELD NEWS PHOTO)
The idea would be essentially the same as a drive-in movie or concert, which have made a comeback thanks to the coronavirus. Rather than having concert-goers in their cars in a field, they would be in their boats on Congamond Lake while the band plays from a stage on a property alongside the lake.
Clark said the plan is to make it a hybrid event where people can attend the live concert but also watch the livestream on Youtube. It would take place sometime in September and would go from 6 to 9 p.m..
The event would be free, but Clark said that donations would be encouraged. No food or alcohol would be served and all boats would have to maintain social distancing from each other. Clark said the guideline given to him by the harbormaster is that a boat must be able to float through two other boats for those two boats to be social distancing.
While the limit for outdoor gatherings was lowered to 50 people recently by Gov. Charlie D. Baker, Spencer said that the state drive-in guidelines could be applied to this event so long as people remain in their boats.
Those guidelines don’t specify exactly how many vehicles are allowed at such an event, only that normal capacity must be reduced to accommodate social distancing outside of vehicles.
Clark said he would likely limit the live attendance to 50 people anyway.
He also said that he would be open to allowing the police to patrol the event to enforce the guidelines.
Clark said that there is no concrete plan in place yet, as he wanted to get the Board of Health’s approval first before moving forward. As of now, he said he has two people who volunteered their lakefront property to act as a stage for the performers; one on South Pond and one on Middle Pond.
The board voted unanimously in favor of having the concert. Spencer must now review the plan submitted by Clark before giving her final approval.
