ASFHIELD — Visitors to the Ashfield Fall Festival this year can expect some changes when it comes to parking and menu options, but the same seasonal community fun.

The festival is still a few months away, on Oct. 12 and 13, but organizers are already busy finding solutions to a few challenges the event is facing.

“The biggest issue is we lost parking off Meadow Lane,” Ashfield Fall Festival Committee Chair Phil Pless told the Selectboard this week.

Pless explained that excessive rain last summer, and again the weekend before the 2023 festival, essentially washed away much of the field off Meadow Lane that was used for festival parking. The committee spent $2,000 repairing damage to the field, but has since been asked to divert vehicles elsewhere and prohibit parking at the location this year.

The Meadow Lane field was able to hold 400 vehicles, a hefty loss for organizers. Pless said the committee needs to find parking for 100 vendors and hundreds of guests.

He said the Trustees of Sanderson Academy have offered to let vehicles park at the school and a few business owners in town have offered up their parking lots. Still, more space is needed

“We feel we have parking for 70 vendors. We’re still working on some other options,” Pless said.

The committee has acquired a shuttle and driver from the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA) to bus guests in from a parking lot farther from the festival — once the committee finds a spot for guests to park.

Pless said guests are urged to carpool, and if possible, walk or bike to the festival.

While the committee continues to seek parking options, organizers are also looking for additional crowd and traffic control assistance. The Police Department is short-staffed, and while it has the budget to hire more hands, finding people has been a challenge.

“The town has a chief and a sergeant,” said Selectboard Chair Steven Gougeon, referencing current staffing levels.

Police Chief Beth Bezio said she would need at least five people, including herself, working the event. With the minimum detail rate set at $60 per hour, the total cost for the festival will be around $6,000.

“That’s a big chunk of my money for patrol,” Bezio said, noting that she can make the budget work. “I don’t know what the future’s gonna hold for the Ashfield Police Department.”

Despite the challenges the committee is facing, Pless is confident the festival will still be a great event. Returning to the festival this year is French fries, which will be replacing the fried dough stand.

“We’re going to do a lot of stuff on a one-year basis this year,” Pless said.

More information will be available closer to the event date as the Ashfield Fall Festival Committee continues to finalize details.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.