Orleans Officials Throw Support Behind Outermost Festival

ORLEANS – Gray skies and rain hovered over the Outermost Roots and Blues Festival in October. But a double rainbow cut through the murk to end the festivities on a high note, and organizers say there are bright days ahead for the event.

The festival, organized by Hog Island Beer Co. and the nonprofit Friends of Nauset Beach, made its return to Orleans on Columbus Day weekend after a four-year layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Situated in the beach’s new upper parking lot, the festival drew about 700 concertgoers out to the beach despite rainy conditions.

On Dec. 13, organizers including Mike McNamara and Mac Gallant of Hog Island and Garrett “G. Love” Dutton, who has also headlined each iteration of the festival, came to the select board with interest in bringing the festival back for 2024, again at Nauset Beach and again on Columbus Day weekend.

The festival was held in 2018 and 2019 as the Cape Cod Roots and Blues Festival, but was sidelined for four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers said this year’s event was an effort to reintroduce the festival and rebuild it locally.

“That was what we kind of wanted to see,” Dutton told the select board. “Does this town, this community, want this thing back? And I think we proved that.”

The festival attracted 2,200 concertgoers in 2018 and 3,700 in 2019. While this year’s festival quickly sold out, attendance dropped to about 700 people due to the weather. But both organizers and town officials expressed optimism about growing the event further in 2024 and beyond.

“People really leaned into the weather, I would say,” McNamara said. “All the folks who attended this thing that I talked to of all ages had the time of their lives.”

McNamara touted the economic benefits that have come with staging the festival in town. Several local businesses were hired to help produce the festival, including Advanced Audio and Video on Route 6A, which provided staging for the event. McNamara said $45,000 was spent locally to help produce this year’s festival.

And as in past years, the Friends of Nauset Beach were able to present a check to the town. The nonprofit issued the town’s natural resources department a check for $5,000 for what McNamara called “shortfalls, unforeseen costs or initiatives associated with the beach.”

This year, the festival made use of a portion of the new upper parking lot at Nauset Beach, while parking was provided on the lower lot. Next year, organizers hope to use the full upper lot to bring attendance back to pre-pandemic numbers.

McNamara sought support from the select board to accommodate 5,000 concertgoers for 2024, the same number permitted for the festival in 2019. Select Board member Mark Mathison said with three years of concerts under their belts, both organizers and the town have demonstrated their ability to safely run the festival.

“We’ve learned through experience that this is something the town can easily handle, and it’s such a benefit,” he said.

Mefford Runyon also spoke in support of the festival, even going so far as to question whether it could be held twice a year instead of just in the fall.

“Because it seems that the fall gets so crowded and the spring gets so ignored,” he said. “Perhaps there’s a reason for that, but it would be nice to get something going in the spring.”

But Runyon also cautioned against overgrowing the event, a problem he said has plagued the annual Oysterfest celebration in Wellfleet. McNamara reiterated that the goal is to bring the event back to a capacity of 5,000 people.

Gallant said in growing the festival, organizers hope to turn it into a weekend-long economic driver, so restaurants, shops and local businesses can reap the benefits beyond the day of the festival.

“That’s a big part of the driving force, not just to have this economic force at the beach, but the Friday before, the Sunday after, the overnights, the restaurants,” he said.

Andrea Reed of the select board envisioned multiple events throughout the weekend scheduled around the Nauset Beach festival. But however the festival unfolds in the future, town officials were unanimous in their support of the organizers bringing the event back to town.

“This is what a community wants,” Town Manager Kim Newman said. “This is what we want to see happen here. I thought it was executed very well for the short amount of time in which you guys put this together.”

The October festival was pulled together in just three months, but McNamara said the extra time to prepare will only benefit next year’s event. He said Columbus Day weekend allows organizers time to plan and prepare for the festival outside the busy summer season. That includes taking the time to schedule and sign bands to play.

“That time frame for us collectively works really well,” he said.

“I was there from the first song to the last song,” Select Board chair Michael Herman said. “I think it was an amazing community event, and I think most importantly it was executed very, very well.”

Herman said work on planning next year’s festival with the town should get underway “sooner than later.” Newman said town staff are ready to work with the festival’s organizers whenever they have a plan in place.

“We want to help you build.” she said. “So please come in soon and let us help you. It’s your festival. I wouldn’t dare do any of the artistic parts, but in terms of execution, that’s where we can help you.”

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com