Bluegrass festival to go on despite court order

TRAPPER CREEK — The Trapper Creek Bluegrass Festival will go on as scheduled, according to its promoter, who said he can accomplish that without running afoul of Mat-Su Borough rules.

The borough filed for a court order barring the festival from having 500 or more attendees without first obtaining a permit in accordance with borough rules. The order was eventually granted.

“The court has ordered him to comply with our ordinance,” borough attorney Nick Spiropoulos said. “The ordinance says if you have more than 500 people you have to have a permit.”

But Justin Boot Rousseau said he can have his festival and not run afoul of the rules.

“I haven’t violated in the past and I have no plans of violating it in the future,” he said.

Rousseau said that since the borough announced it had received an injunction against him he has been receiving all kinds of phone calls.

“All these people are calling me and saying, ‘Oh my God, is Trapper Creek canceled?’” he said.

He wants to assure everyone the festival is going on as scheduled, from May 27 to May 29. He only has 500 tickets and they’re first-come, first-served. Last year he sold just shy of 300.

The borough disputes quite a bit of what Rousseau said. In its motion seeking the injunction the borough claimed that on May 28 and Aug. 21 of last year there were festivals at Rousseau’s property that had more than 500 people.

The borough points to complaints received through its code compliance office. In addition to the attendance numbers, which neighbors estimated at anywhere from 500 to 1,500, the complaints allege things like wild driving, public nudity, fireworks being used and junk and trash left behind.

“If these drunks start a fire my family will be trapped with no way out. We have been robbed by a doped out partygoer who came back after one of the parties,” wrote Lorna Trowbridge in an affidavit filed along with the borough’s motion.

Rousseau said he knows about the incident Trowbridge describes.

He said the person in question left after the festival and came back, “drove down to their place and stole their generator. But they stole my generator and chainsaw along the way, too.”

As for the rest of his neighbors?

“They’re just raising hell and complaining because they don’t like people having fun, I guess,” Rousseau said.

Chadwick Adams who sells coffee at the festival every year disputes the neighbors’ descriptions of the festival.

“I’m a family man I will not hesitate to bring my family down there, and it’s been a wonderful place for them,” he said. “We stand behind Boot and we stand behind something that is this good for our family.”

Adams said Rousseau has done quite a bit to improve access to the area, a benefit his neighbors get to enjoy. He said he doesn’t understand why the neighbors are going after him now. Regardless, he said, he thinks Boot should be able to hold a festival if he wants to.

“I don’t see any reason why a guy who owns 80 acres of land can’t just do what he wants,” he said.

Spiropoulos said that if the borough needs help enforcing the order it can summon Alaska State Troopers.

Rousseau said they won’t have to. In addition to not being allowed to have a festival larger than 500 people, he doesn’t want one.

“Any bigger than that and it’s a headache. It’s harder on the community. It’s harder on me,” he said. “I’m not in it for the money, I’m in it to put on a quality festival.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.