BANGOR, Maine — The chain-link fence and torn blue canvas screens surrounding Bangor’s Waterfront Concerts venue are coming down this week.
A crew was hard at work Tuesday putting up a permanent barrier — an 8-foot-tall cedar board fence that will surround the venue, preventing anyone outside from looking in.
Waterfront Concerts promoter Alex Gray said his staff and the city have fielded complaints in past concert seasons about the chain-link fence and the blue screening that lined Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion.
Each season, the screen was slashed by people outside the venue hoping to get a peek at the concerts for free. Sections needed to be patched or replaced between shows, and the fence was seen as an eyesore by concertgoers and concert officials alike.
“We disliked it as much, and now that the city’s work on Main Street is complete we can move forward with the original plan that city staff and WFC conceived a number of years ago and the council recently approved,” Gray said in an email Tuesday.
The city has been in the midst of a major overhaul of Main Street, expanding sidewalks, installing new lighting and more. That construction work could have damaged the wooden fence had it been installed earlier.
Gray declined to say how much the fence cost Waterfront Concerts, saying only “it’s not cheap.”
ADA Fence Co. of Palmyra is installing the fence, Gray added.
Waterfront Concerts planned to have the fence up in advance of the first outdoor concert of the season June 4.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.