After weeks of anticipation, Oxxfest, an all-day music festival at the Wiscasset Raceway featuring dozens of hard rock and heavy metal bands, arrived in Wiscasset July 31.
Performances began at 10 a.m., ending well after dark with headliner Shinedown.
Attendance estimates ranged from 9,000 to 12,000. The Wiscasset Raceway placed the figure at 10,000. Estimates from Lieutenant John Allen of the Wiscasset Police Department, and Major Ken Mason of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office came in at 9,200-9,500 and 10,000-12,000, respectively.
Promoter Alex Gray said official figures aren’t available yet. Due to technical difficulties with scanning equipment, workers need to manually count the tickets. Gray estimated attendance between 10,000-11,000.
“It was a very successful event for all parties,” Gray said.
Gray said the large amount of walk-up ticket sales threw off calculations for vendors and portapotties, leading to long lines and shortages of some products.
Wiscasset Raceway owner Doug White took a brief rest from clean-up Monday morning to express his satisfaction. White said he “couldn’t be any happier” and Oxxfest “went smooth as cherry pie.”
White said the neighbors and town officials he spoke to were pleased, as were area businesses. The Wiscasset Quik-Stop, which usually closes at 10 p.m., stayed open until 1 a.m. to serve customers leaving the concert, he said, while McDonald’s “had a hard time closing at all.”
“Everybody got some ‘spin-off” business, White said, including area stores, restaurants, and motels.
White said he hopes the economic impact and the lack of major public safety incidents will improve his relationship with skeptical neighbors and local officials and prepare the way for more blockbuster events to come. “I would like to try to get another concert at the end of September,” White said.
Seanu Anne, owner of the Wiscasset Quik-Stop, said the event was “definitely good for the whole town.”
“Everybody benefited from the flow of traffic in the area,” in the morning and early afternoon, as well as the late evening rush, Anne said. “I thought it was a great event that we were glad to be a sponsor of,” he said, and he hopes White is able to bring more, similar events to the community.
Concertgoers joined White and Anne in their approval. Charles Kennedy, of Mexico, Maine, brought his girlfriend, Melissa Munzner, and his son Kyle Kennedy. Charles and Kyle Kennedy attended Oxxfest in Oxford in 2009.
This year’s audience was much larger, Charles Kennedy said. “Probably times six,” he said.
Wiscasset’s Oxxfest was “very well organized,” Charles Kennedy said. “It was a good day. Last year we got thunderstorms.”
Angela Perotti made a shorter drive, from Bowdoinham. A devoted fan, she’d seen two headliners, Shinedown and Puddle of Mudd, during previous tours.
“Puddle of Mudd was awesome, just like they were before… I thought Chevelle was great,” Perotti said.
Shawn Finley and Sean Armstrong travelled from the Belfast area to see Sevendust. “I thought the show was great,” Finley said.
Both found plenty else to enjoy as well. “I liked Dead Season and a bunch of the other bands,” Armstrong said.
One group of three young men and a woman journeyed from Newport, Vt., beginning the four and a half hour drive to Wiscasset at 4:30 a.m. One man in the group said they liked Dead Season, Sevendust and Puddle of Mudd, but they were ready to leave after Puddle of Mudd.
“We got too long of a drive,” the man said.
The Vermont resident had only one complaint. “I can’t believe how bad people trash everything,” he said. Although trash barrels – many overflowing – were scattered throughout the grounds, the field was littered with half-empty bowls of french fries, napkins, and thousands of Dasani bottles.
A man from Corinth, Maine, “about 100 miles” from Wiscasset, called Oxxfest “awesome.”
“Puddle of Mudd was great. Sevendust was good, too,” he said.
Like the Vermonter, however, he offered a single grievance. “I don’t like the security,” he said. According to the man, security guards took his ID bracelet – necessary to enter the festival’s twin beer gardens – after he accidentally spilled another man’s drink.
Despite long bathroom lines and a handful of mostly minor arrests and injuries, most of the crowd appeared enthusiastic. Deep in the crowd around the main stage, attendees stood shoulder to shoulder, but still found room to create small mosh pits. The turnout also lent itself well to a handful of crowdsurfers. Some fell before reaching the fence in front of the stage, while benevolent security guards assisted many others.
Several dozen ticket holders chose not to enter the facility at all, tailgating instead on the other side of the fence near the main stage. Without the rules and restrictions of the facility, the group brought their own beer and food. Several climbed on top of a small bus to drink and dance, rocking the bus back and forth during the Puddle of Mudd show.
Many of the raceway’s neighbors provided parking in the rolling fields along West Alna Road. According to a Wiscasset Raceway press release by Director of Sales and Marketing Steve Smith, some neighbors “probably made their town tax money in one day.”
According to Smith, many local businesses “had very busy days” and even one vendor inside the raceway, Mr. and Mrs. Sausage, ran out of “all kinds of products,” including forks and buns, finally resorting to selling sausages on a plate.
“We hope that the economic impact of our show was felt all over the town of Wiscasset,” Smith said.
Smith’s personal highlight came near the end of the day, watching the headliner in the raceway grandstands with Bob McDonald, a lifelong Wiscasset resident and volunteer firefighter. “We were listening to Brent Smith of Shinedown thank Wiscasset, Maine several times and marveling at the 10,000 people below. It was a great night,” Smith said. “Let me echo the words of the Shinedown frontman, Thank you Wiscasset, Maine!”
