Council waives hearings and approves Trick-or-Treat on Main Street and Scarecrow Festival permits

On July 17 the Glocester Town Council waived public hearings and approved two special-event applications for fall 2025: the Gloucester Business Association—s Trick-or-Treat on Main Street (Saturday, Oct. 25, noon–3 p.m.) and the Friendship Lodge Scarecrow Festival (Saturday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.).

Andy Goulet, co‑chair of the Gloucester Business Association, described Trick-or-Treat on Main Street as largely unchanged from prior years and said organizers distribute flyers to schools and day cares and coordinate police coverage. "It's been very well received," Goulet said. The council approved a waiver under Gloucester Code chapter 221‑18 and granted event permissions subject to conditions including police and fire approval, adherence to the Kent Pavilion use policy and prior notification to the Department of Public Works for parking‑lot blocking.

Keith Doucette, speaking for Friendship Lodge No. 7, reviewed the Scarecrow Festival application, which requests use of downtown Chepachet, the town hall lawn for children's activities, food trucks licensed with the town, and placement of scarecrows along Main Street from Oct. 17–31. The council approved the application with stipulations requiring licensed food handlers for non‑prepackaged food, town licensing for food trucks, trash removal by the applicant, coordination with police and fire on staffing and safety, a certificate of liability insurance to be filed before issuance of the license, and placement of portable toilets across the event area (the motion specified eight portable toilets in the file and the application motion later referenced 10 in the permit language).

Both events were approved by voice vote. The council reserved authority to add additional stipulations before the events and required that police and fire may require safety measures and manpower details as they deem necessary.