Council closes Riverside park to WhatFest campers

At the Riverside Town Council meeting Thursday, the town decided to not allow camping at Rick Martin Memorial Park.

The action was mainly driven by the impending WhatFest that will be in Riverside in July. Requests have been sent in from many residents that surround the park to not allow camping.

“There were several people that wrote in, none in favor of it,” said Leroy Stephenson, mayor of Riverside.

After doing some research, Liz Swynarczuk, found there are little to no towns that actually allow camping in public parks within town limits.

“I found some information basically stating that any town parks that allow this type of camping are usually outside of residential areas, on the other side of non-residential/commercial areas and most appear to be abutting national forests lands.”

In addition, if they are allowed to camp in the park, most have designated camping areas due to safety concerns.

Margaret Weber, owner of The Bear Trap, which is the venue for WHATfest and Riverside Town Councilwoman, spoke as a councilor stated if residents don’t like the idea of camping in the park, then not allowing it is reasonable.

“To me it looks like everyone who is adjacent to the parks says ‘don’t do this’. Quite honestly if that’s the case … it would not behoove the event at all.”

The council decided to put up signs throughout the park to warn campers they cannot camp in the park.

According to Weber, there has always been a shuttle that takes campers to the Lions Club Park, where WhatFest camping is encouraged.

“With opening up the Lions Club Park there are plenty of places for people to camp. I just think they don’t choose to do that.”

Weber wanted to stress that although campers will have to find alternative arrangements, it is the right decision to make to keep the seasonal and full-time Riverside residents happy.

“If 20 percent of the town says, ‘we don’t want this’ you have to listen to that and that as far as I’m concerned, it’s a moot point,” said Weber.

The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. July 9, at Riverside Town Hall.