"Huge Hit" - Bomb Threats Mean Lost Revenue For Downtown Businesses At Summer's Peak

The local band Foggy Roots was just one song into their set at the Gaslight in downtown Nantucket Saturday night when all the lights came on. A staff member came to the microphone and told everyone inside the establishment that they had to evacuate.

Another night, another bomb threat. It was the third such incident in just five days.

But for a few unlucky downtown establishments within the perimeter secured by Nantucket and Massachusetts State Police officers, it was another night of lost revenue at the peak of summer.

The Gaslight was one of those businesses.

"With such a short season, being shut down three nights in one week is a huge hit," said Gaslight co-owner Callie Kever. "Unfortunately, the point of these false threats seems to be to cause chaos and getting into the details of exactly how this impacts us seems like it would just fuel the fire. But, yeah, it's incredibly frustrating, has real implications for us, and we hate to see it for our staff. We are hoping for some answers and look forward to hearing from our town officials on what's being done to prevent more of these types of events."

In addition to the Gaslight, the Club Car was also forced to close during the bomb threats, along with Murray's Beverage Store. While the Ralph Lauren store appears to be the target of the threats, it closes at 5 p.m., so its hours of operation have not been affected.

Club Car owner Matt Sullivan did not respond to a message seeking comment about the impact of the bomb threats on his establishment.

Beyond just the businesses, others who make their living on Main Street were also affected. Street performer Bobby Maguire, who plays his fiddle on a nightly basis during the summer months outside the Ralph Lauren store, was also forced to relocate during the bomb threats. Maguire, however, simply moved down Main Street and continued to play just a few dozen feet away from the Nantucket Police officers who had their firearms trained on the suspect vehicle in front of Ralph Lauren on Friday night.

"I definitely took a financial hit from all the chaos, but obviously nothing even remotely close to the impact on businesses like Gaslight, Club Car, Murray’s and all the folks they employ - I’m just one guy after all, and I moved on up the street and kept playing," Maguire said. "I think for me the biggest impact was psychological. Over the weekend I could feel my anxiety level creeping up, wondering if and when Main Street would suddenly get shut down again, and by Sunday a degree of paranoia had set in. I spend hours every night playing right outside Ralph Lauren at more or less the exact time and place that some of these threats have come in, and I started to wonder if I could be the target, and could someone really be so insane that they would call in fake bomb threats to try and shut down a street musician they don’t care for?"