Community Corner

Officials: Shark Attack Party Had No Bite

Held at the Montauk Yacht Club, the large party received one noise summons, but otherwise went smoothly.

Despite concerns, Ben Watts' Shark Attack Sounds party at the Montauk Yacht Club seems to have gone off without much of a problem, according to East Hampton Town officials. 

East Hampton Town Police Chief Ed Ecker reported that one noise violation was issued to the yacht club after several complaints were lodged. Otherwise, he said, the fashion photographer's 11th annual party in Montauk went as planned, and much better than last year's party, which was held at a different venue over the busy Fourth of July weekend. 

Patrick Gunn, an East Hampton Town attorney who oversees the code enforcement division, said the event — which was sold out — went smoothly. "Chief Fire Marshal [David] Browne reported that there were no internal site issues. The new part-time code enforcement officers under the supervision of senior Ordinance Inspector Scott Rodriguez assisted the police with traffic and performed well," Gunn said by email Monday.

In late June, the East Hampton Town Board approved a mass gathering permit for 3,900 people to attend the party with a few caveats, including that parking be provided offsite. Initially, the parking was slated for Rita's Stables in Montauk, but just a few days before the party, the town board met in an emergency meeting to rescind the permit after it was discovered parking wasn't possible there. Instead, organizers — which included Milk Studios founder Mazdack Rassi and Jeffrey Jah — arranged for parking in a field off Montauk Highway in Amagansett, and the permit was reissued by the same margin of 3 to 2. 

Described on a Milk Studios blog, the party featured DJs Zen Freeman, Carl Kennedy and Chelsea Leyland played music. 

"There were neon yellow and pink blow-up couches and chairs, hay stacks and tipis to seat those who dared to sit down, while their fellow comrades took the spotlight, either on stage or on the open lawn, to drunkenly move to their own unique dance . . .," the blogger wrote. Theophilus London, a rapper, made a special appearance, and pro-snowboarder Shaun White was among the guests. 

"If there's anthing to learn from it it would be the exit strategy," Ecker said. 

The party let out earlier than anticipated. The permit allowed the party to go until 2 a.m., but because the music had to be turned off by 11 p.m., guests started leaving soon after, he said. 

"There was a lot of pedestrian traffic on the causeway," mainly guests walking to get cabs on West Lake Drive, he said. "Early on we shut down cabs and limos going down there because it wasn't working out." 

Last year, when the party was held at Rick's Crabby Cowboy on East Lake Drive, traffic congestion was so bad that a Montauk Fire Department ambulance could not get through to reach a patient. Officials ended up shutting down the party after they said it got out of control. 

There were no injuries reported this year, Ecker said. 

Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said the party was far from what dissenters were saying in the days leading up to it. "There's this idea that the sky is falling, that it's going to be a definite disaster for Montauk and the Town of East Hampton," he said. 

"It was the same thing with the Willie Nelson concert," Wilkinson said. "Then the event takes place in a form or fashion that is line with the plans, and nobody says anything. The businesses that were responsible for that entertainment ensured and worked in such a way that there was no adverse impact. But, regardless, we'll still find some excuse to deny that commercial enterprise the right to do that in the future," he said sarcastically. 

"You take the fireworks — it was estimated that there were 40,000 people in Montauk for the fireworks — you will hear nothing about them at all because it wasn't a commercial enterprise that ran the fireworks. And yet, for 4,000 people for an event at a comercial establishment that not only provided a plan that is a quarter-inch thick of how they are going to proceed and they set up parking that will enhance that plan, and you get protest ad nauseum," he said. 

Wilkinson said he was out and about on Friday night making sure there was no extra traffic down by the Amagansett farm or up by the Star Island causeway. "I just give tremendous of credit to the chief, to Lt. Chris Hatch and to Lt. AJ McGuire and their troops and their staffs. They did a great job," he siad. 


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