"We Love The Island To Death" - Town Raises Concerns With Daffodil Festival Weekend

The town of Nantucket's Department of Culture & Tourism director Shantaw Bloise-Murphy outlined a series of concerns with the recent Daffodil Festival Weekend in a presentation to the Select Board last week, suggesting that without corrective action, the festival could pose what she described as “significant public safety risks.”

“If the event continues to grow, public safety does have some concerns that it may lead to some significant risks if [the Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event] doesn't expand staffing or operations,” she said.

The presentation sparked debate among the members of the Select Board over what, if anything, should be done about the festival that is often considered the kick-off to Nantucket’s season.

“I had a blast. I loved it,” Select Board member Jill Vieth said. “I thought it was so well-run, so I just was a little surprised that the report seemed [to be] a little highlighting the negatives, and I’m really impressed with how it went.”

Bloise-Murphy listed several issues, including “exceptionally large crowds,” a high volume of trash that was not all properly disposed of or picked up at the end of the event, drinking from open containers in town, food safety violations committed by picnickers who shared snacks without first obtaining permits for food service, and a number of problems related to traffic and pedestrians.

To stop people from sharing food, Bloise-Murphy recommended having staff from the Chamber of Commerce patrol the picnics.

“Public health takes issue with that. There are no temporary food permits issued for out there, so if there is any sort of contamination, it is really difficult for them to track it. There's not proper sanitation with the sharing of food,” Bloise-Murphy said. “The Chamber needs to have more staff, again, or volunteers to assist with enforcement, and just have constant walkthrough of the tailgating area.”

Perhaps the most striking note was a claim in Bloise-Murphy’s written report that “DPW also raised significant safety concerns regarding vehicle movement and tailgating operations in Sconset.”

The report claims that “a breakdown in communication and coordination” led to vehicles passing a designated parking area, forcing them to back “through large pedestrian crowds…creating what was described as an unsafe situation with substantial risk to public safety.”

The Select Board largely agreed that more trash cans and bathrooms are warranted as the event continues to grow, but was divided on the report’s larger concerns.

“These [festivals] are huge economic boosts for our economy. Every business owner I know downtown had a phenomenal Daffodil,” Select Board member Bob DeCosta said. “These businesses that did really well this weekend are the ones that pay all of our taxes.”

“We’re here to supply growth for our businesses and our economy,” he continued. “Let’s pick our battles here. I think this is an important economic stimulus for the island, and I thought it went really well.”

Bloise-Murphy added that the Chamber has “done a great job addressing a lot of the concerns that we’ve brought to them throughout the years.”

“There’s just these small issues,” she said. “[Daffodil Festival] was by no means intended to be presented as a problem. Daffodil weekend is most certainly a valuable and positive addition to our community."

One of the main criticisms raised by Select Board members was about who participates in the Daffodil Festival and who is excluded.

“Philosophically, it kind of irks me a little bit,” Select Board member Matt Fee said about an initiative allowing a small number of people to pay more to be at the front of the antique car parade that functions as the centerpiece of the festival. “That’s different than the Nantucket I grew up in, and I think it is what we are catering to right now as a community, and I think we should ask whether that is what we want to do. I would like [the parade] to be half islanders and half visitors.”

The debate may have felt familiar to many in the audience, tracing the same paths as many previous discussions about Nantucket’s summer season as the Select Board tries to balance the economic and social opportunities created by tourism with the potential downsides for community culture and year-round residents.

Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce agreed to take the criticisms under consideration.

“We see this as an opportunity and would like to use this framework as a starting point for bringing all stakeholders to the table to discuss new strategies, form a consensus for their implementation, and address the growing popularity of Daffodil weekend,” said Ciaran McCloskey, the outgoing board president of the Chamber of Commerce and the owner of local construction company CMC Construction.

But they added that some of the recommendations might be difficult to implement given the nature of the event.

“When we put on events, it’s not for the Chamber itself as a fundraiser, it’s really to raise the economic value for our local island businesses, so we have some funding for these events, but the events have outgrown what our capabilities are from a funding [perspective],” McCloskey said. “We would like to partner with the town.”

Citing staffing concerns from the Police Department, the Culture and Tourism Department report also recommends “an overall ban on events occurring on either end of the school vacation week,” igniting a broader debate about the timing of the event and its accessibility to islanders.

“What’s been super frustrating for me is I think this is a wonderful community event, but the last two or three years, it’s fallen during school vacation, and that doesn’t align with it being a community event,” Select Board chair Dawn Hill said. “I would really like to talk about it being the weekend before school vacation or the weekend after school vacation, because it’s just not welcoming.”

Not every Select Board member agreed that the Daffodil Festival has shifted away from being a community event.

“I saw a real mix of people. I saw a lot of year-rounders,” Vieth said. “I just thought the mix was great.”

Fee also suggested banning drinking during the event and raised concerns about overtourism.

“It happens more often than not that we love the island to death,” Fee said.

Attendance at this year’s Daffodil Festival was up 26 percent over last year and 82 percent over 2024, according to Bloise-Murphy.

Disclosure: Jacqueline McGrady is the mother of JohnCarl McGrady, who wrote this story. Jacqueline McGrady works for the Chamber of Commerce, but does not oversee the Daffodil Festival event planning.