Planeville Select Board moves to approve Lions Club circus permit; vote not recorded

Planeville Select Board members moved and seconded approval of a special events application from the Planeville Lions Club for a circus planned at Field of Dreams on July 8 and 9, 2026, but the meeting transcript does not record a final vote.

John Tiner, Planeville park director, presented the proposal and a new layout for the tent and trailers, saying the recommended site is the right-side parking lot as drivers enter Field of Dreams. He said the suggested site provides about 1,000 additional square feet compared with last year’s upper-right lot and that facilities manager Jim Merritt helped select the location. “This is on park property,” Tiner said while describing the plan.

Tiner also outlined the organizers’ parking plan and space counts. He described several measured areas (including a 150 ft by 120 ft lot and an upper lot by the Babe Ruth Field) and summarized the arithmetic as roughly 100 parking spaces total. The transcript records Tiner stating, “20% of that would be 88 for the handicap spaces,” which is mathematically inconsistent with the preceding counts; the meeting record does not reconcile that figure.

On scheduling, Tiner said the circus would run two shows on Wednesday, July 8 (5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.) and one show on Thursday, July 9 (6:00 p.m.), contrasting this with last year’s weekend dates and lower attendance. He said the park commissioners met June 4 and gave conditional approval subject to sign-off by the town police chief and fire chief.

A board member asked about Chief Skinner’s views on the tent location. A respondent said the fire department had approved the location and would staff a fire officer for the event. Police concerns centered on availability of police details because staffing could conflict with World Cup events; one member said the police chief may be able to be flexible for July 8 but likely not for July 9, and cautioned the organizers may face an increased charge to secure an officer for the latter date.

A select board member formally moved that the board approve the Planeville Lions Club special events application for the July 8–9 circus at Field of Dreams; another member seconded the motion. The transcript ends during the roll call; no vote tally or final disposition is recorded in the provided text. The record therefore leaves unresolved whether the permit was formally granted and whether any additional police-detail costs will be imposed.

Next steps indicated in the discussion were (1) confirmation of final police-detail availability and any associated fee from the police chief and (2) final written sign-off by the fire chief and police chief, per the park commissioners’ condition for approval.