HearseFest 2018 in Hell cancelled? Sort of...

[Creepy Clyde]

Hello my fellow Goth enthusiasts and lovers of Halloween!

HearseFest in Hell Michigan, 2018 is cancelled, for now. A Livingston newspaper article has all the details about permits. One could Google that.

My name is Keith Brown and I have sang spooky songs in Hell as Creepy Clyde since 2004.

The HearseFest was scheduled for 09 15 2018.

But my performance for that date has been cancelled along with the vendors and their booths, which always had beautiful Horror/Goth/Halloween creations.

But on September 15th, I'll bet you'll still see lots of like minded folks going there, to Screams Ice Cream and Hell Hole Bar.

I say go to Hell on 09 15 2018. It won't look like previous HearseFests, but I bet lots of folks will be there.

By the way, Im booked there during the day, every Saturday and Sunday in October in Hell.

[TronRP]

Thank you for the notice.

[TronRP]

No chance in Hell for Hearse Fest? The devil is in the details

https://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/local/community/livingston-county/2018/08/30/hearse-fest-has-hell-area-officials-organizers-odds-over-permit/1136693002/

Susan Bromley, Livingston Daily Published 6:30 a.m. ET Aug. 30, 2018 | Updated 9:40 a.m. ET Aug. 30, 2018

~~~~~

Hearse Fest appears to be going to Hell in a hand basket this year.

The event has lit up Hell for 16 years, but lack of a permit has the 17th annual festival, planned for Sept. 15 in Hell, as well as its chances for breaking a Guinness World Record for most hearses in a procession, on hold.

“Right now it’s cancelled,” said John Colone, unofficial Hell mayor and business owner. “But we know there is no way to stop hearses from coming here. People plan vacations around it.”

“This would have been our 17th year,” said festival organizer Frank Hedeen on Wednesday. “We never knew we needed permits… The township doesn’t want us there. Why did they wait until now to say something? This is a slap in the face.”

Why was it cancelled? 

Hearses at the 13th Annual Hearse Fest in Hell. The event has been officially cancelled this year for lack of a permit, although organizers note they can't stop hearses from coming to Hell. (Photo: Daily Press & Argus file photo/Gillis Benedict)

 

Putnam Township Supervisor Dennis Brennan sent a letter to Hedeen and Colone on Aug. 22, informing them they were in violation of the township’s code regulating outdoor assemblies by promoting the event without a permit.

Brennan said Wednesday the event had been operating for years without a permit and Colone had been told for years he needed one. Last year, Brennan’s first as supervisor, Colone applied for a “last-minute” permit, but that won’t be allowed this year, Brennan said.

How to get a permit 

Permits must be approved by a vote of the board at least 90 days in advance of the event, Brennan said, and the next township board meeting is not until Sept. 19.

 

“Historically, parking is the number one issue for this event. He just doesn’t have adequate parking for an event that size and no willingness to work out a solution either,” Brennan said.

Brennan said he has received “a ton” of complaints about the event from the residents of a nearby lake community. The only road in and out of the subdivision is Riverbank Drive, he said, and Hearse Fest attendees park there as well as on surrounding roads posing a risk if emergency vehicles can not get through. He added that happened in 2006.

Colone hosted a “666” event in Hell on June 6, 2006 in which an estimated 10,000 people descended on the hamlet, Brennan said.

 

“The same day, one of our residents on the lake had a heart attack, and it took 2½ hours for an ambulance to reach him because there is no place to put 10,000 people in Hell,” Brennan said. “A very good man passed away as a result.”

More than 900 people planned to attend

Outdoor assemblies are defined in the code as a gathering of 750 people or more at any one time, and Brennan noted that the Hell’s Hearse Fest Facebook page indicated 940 people would be attending the event with another 6,200 interested. Colone said in previous years, a permit was not sought because more than 750 people were not expected.

Hedeen, founder of the Just Hearse’n Around Hearse Club, said in the past few years, about 1,000 people have attended the event in which hearses travel in a short procession from the Colone-owned Screams Ice Cream Parlor, up Patterson Lake Road to S. Howell Street.

While the procession takes less than a half-hour, the free event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with hearses parking behind the ice cream shop and other businesses. Vendors also attend offering novelty gifts in what Hedeen calls a celebratory kick-off to the Halloween season, complete with a pine box derby, costume contests and food from a “Casketeria.”

Last year, 92 hearses participated in the event and this year, Hedeen was hoping the event would claim the Guinness World Record for hearses in a procession — currently 107 and held by a group in the Netherlands.

'It’s open to the public – how do you stop it?'

Hedeen said he has called off the vendors. But the hearses may still be coming.

“It’s open to the public – how do you stop it?” Hedeen asked. “You can’t stop the hearses from coming. You can’t stop people from coming to (John Colone’s) business… I’m not going to tell them no. If they want to come to Hell how do you stop them?”

Brennan’s answer is law enforcement. Any vehicles that are impeding traffic will be ticketed and towed, he said. He added the road commission has told him “no parking” signs are not required. Colone and Hedeen would be held in violation of the ordinance, but Brennan said the ordinance “had no teeth” and Colone would likely make the money for any fine in less than an hour from the event.

Hedeen said the “peaceful” event is a benefit to local businesses, and Brennan agreed, but said safety of local residents is his first concern.

“I fully expect it will happen anyway,” Brennan said. “He is hoping they will show up.”

Hedeen admits he is still hoping that people will call Putnam Township and advocate for what he calls “a peaceful” event.

“Where else would you have Hearse Fest but in Hell?” he said.

Colone said he doesn’t want to have a fight with the township, but laughed at an idea proposed by Brennan of shuttle buses, perhaps from area churches promoted as “from Heaven to Hell.”

 He added the loss of Hearse Fest this year is a loss for the community and he hopes to get a permit for the event next year.

“We are formally cancelling, but we’re still expecting hearses. We do not know who is coming, there is no registration. We will welcome folks and see what happens from there. We are trying to work with the township as best we can.”

Contact Susan Bromley at sbromley@livingstondaily.com  Follow on Twitter  @SusanBromley10

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Hrmm.  Doesn't seem canceled at all.  The headline probably will kill attendance though.  Permit for a bunch of automobile enthusiasts to show up in one place makes sense but NOT having a permit won't stop anything other than if too many people all bunch up in one spot the cops might come and bitch at them to 'disperse' but so what. 

I'm actually thinking this might HELP the event if the organizers handle it right.  If not this year, then next year.  This kind of publicity you can't buy.  

 

 

[TronRP]

28 minutes ago, Troy Spiral said:

Hrmm.  Doesn't seem canceled at all.  The headline probably will kill attendance though.  Permit for a bunch of automobile enthusiasts to show up in one place makes sense but NOT having a permit won't stop anything other than if too many people all bunch up in one spot the cops might come and bitch at them to 'disperse' but so what. 

I'm actually thinking this might HELP the event if the organizers handle it right.  If not this year, then next year.  This kind of publicity you can't buy.  

 

 

That's why I posted the story.  There really isn't anyway to stop a public gathering...especially if it's peaceful.  That's like telling people they can't eat together outside because there are too many of them. 

[Draco1958]

Well if anyone in my area decides to go check it out to see if anything does go on, I could use a ride.  I would love to get some photos.