Owners of Livermore mud run park stress communication with officials

LIVERMORE — The owners of Barnyard All Terrain told selectpersons Tuesday night that they want to maintain good communications with officials, a month after a mud run attended by roughly 1,700 people tied up police, fire and medical services in the region.

“Jill and I want to keep the lines of communication open with the town,” owner David Lovewell said. “We stirred things up a little bit. We were stressed as were a lot of people.”

During the weekend of June 4 to 6, Androscoggin County deputies, fire departments and emergency medical services from Turner Rescue and NorthStar EMS were called to the Boothby Road business for reports of fighting, intoxication, a man with a broken leg or ankle, property damage and numerous abandoned 911 calls, Androscoggin County Sheriff Chief Deputy William Gagne told selectpersons June 7.

On June 22 the owners met with Livermore officials and representatives from state police, the Sheriff’s Office and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to talk about what happened, Town Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller told selectpersons. He said they stressed communication and suggestions to improve lighting and informational signs and traffic.

The Lovewells own and operate the park with their son Josh.

“How was this weekend?” Selectperson Tracey Martin asked about the mud racing, live music and camping Friday through Sunday. “I didn’t hear about anything bad happening.”

Selectperson Scott Richmond, a member of the Livermore Fire Department, said there were no calls.

“The sheriff’s deputy had a great time,” Jill Lovewell said. “She sat with us.”

A man fell off a bridge in the woods and an ambulance came but that wasn’t part of Barnyard, she said.

Asked about the next event, Trucks Gone Wild on Aug. 6-8 with races, music and camping, David Lovell said, “I don’t anticipate it being quite as large as June. It’ll still be significant. There will be some calls obviously.”

He said people call 911 now instead of coming to the staff at the gate as they used to.

There were a lot of hang-up calls at the June event, Jill Lovewell said. “The majority of 911 calls could have been handled by our nine-man professional security team that includes a trauma nurse. The fact that the cops were called, it totally surprised us too.”

“The police asked, ‘you’ve done this how long?’ We told them and they said ‘we don’t know who you are,'” she said. “That’s a good thing. We have a very good relationship with the Sheriff’s Department.”

“We want to keep the lines open due to the fact that times have changed and publicity has changed,” David Lovewell said.

“A couple of strokes of a keypad and you’re famous,” Selectperson Richmond said. “Not always in a good way.”

Selectpersons approved five new streetlights Tuesday, one near the Barnyard on an existing pole about 50 feet from the intersection of River and Boothby roads.