Deerfield residents discuss noise, summer concert series with Tree House Brewing reps

As Tree House Brewing Co. prepares for its next summer concert series, company representatives met with residents Tuesday at Deerfield Town Hall to hear their concerns. Last year’s concert series generated noise complaints from residents, particularly in late August and early September. STAFF PHOTO/ANTHONY CAMMALLERI
Published: 01-15-2025 5:27 PM
Modified: 01-17-2025 9:48 AM |
DEERFIELD — As Tree House Brewing Co. prepares for its next summer concert series, company representatives met with residents Tuesday to hear their concerns.
Assistant Town Administrator Greg Snedeker opened the hearing at Town Hall by explaining that its purpose was to create a dialogue between Tree House representatives and the community in the wake of noise complaints near the end of the 2024 season.
“The residents on Captain Lathrop [Drive] and that general area are super impacted. I go to Tree House myself. I love it, and I don’t want to say too much negative about it, but when it impacts people’s daily lives, it doesn’t feel respectful,” said Monique Gagnon, herself a resident of Captain Lathrop Drive. “We felt like we had no relief from the noise. We appreciate some music, acoustic is awesome, but it was the crazy, crazy bass that really got us.”
Tree House Compliance and Business Development Manager Allison Masley gave an overview of the company’s concert series, explaining that over the summer, its indoor theater — which can host roughly 200 guests at a time — was the venue for 14 different concerts; whereas, the outside venue hosted 18 shows with a capacity of 1,500 people.
Noting that the venue usually hosts weekday concerts that wrap up before 10 p.m., Masley said the company has worked with town officials and sound engineers to mitigate the noise since last summer.
“We had a stage that was facing the animal hospital last summer, and that gave a lot of noise in that direction. We did a sound study, re-adjusted the way that our stage faces, and that created a decent amount of noise on the Pelican [Products] side of our property,” Masley said. “We’re sort of learning as it goes, how noise works. I learned this past summer that humidity makes noise travel a lot farther than it would have for a very dry summer. … We’re trying our best to move and accommodate.”
Of the residents who complained of noise, many noted that the bass sounds were particularly obnoxious, which Snedeker explained was because of the nature of low-frequency sound waves themselves, rather than decibel levels. He said that while high-frequency sound dissipates relatively quickly, bass sound waves run along the ground and travel farther.
When asked if the company had a decibel limit at which it capped concerts’ volumes, Masley replied that although the venue is not currently restricted to a particular decibel level, the company tries to keep the volume under 90 decibels, as it was restricted to under its former 2021 special permit. She also mentioned that bands’ technology managers and sound engineers take decibel readings during concerts, which usually result in 90 or fewer decibels.
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“We’ve kept it to the same one as it was, with a special permit. I honestly do think that a lot of it was stage adjustments. Some people hear it more than others and we’re continuing to work to improve that,” Masley said. “It’s something that changes in different weather, different feedback, different types of acts, different types of bass. It’s kind of a learning curve.”
The discussion also included comments about the business’ benefits to the community since it first opened its South Deerfield location in 2022. Masley noted that Tree House donated $17,000, raised by the company’s half-marathon in September, to Frontier Regional School. She also noted the company plans to hold a fundraiser for Tilton Library, and rents parking spaces from local businesses after they close. Tree House also plans to sell pre-sale tickets to Deerfield residents.
Tree House Director of Finance Mark VanAtta noted that, with 62% of Tree House concert-goers living at least 50 miles away from Deerfield, the business brought roughly $8 million in revenue to the community.
VanAtta explained the community counted $137,000 in taxes, and an additional $35,000 in meal tax that went directly to the community from Tree House.
“Not only are people coming and spending money at Tree House,” VanAtta said. “These are people that are coming from different communities to this community to spend money to have a good time.”
Tree House representatives shared numerous methods by which to notify Deerfield residents when pre-sale tickets are available, from advertising on the town’s website, to emailing alerts and flyers.
Discussing ways to improve the company’s benefit to the community, resident Philip Hayes suggested providing free concert tickets or passes to neighbors directly abutting Tree House as a form of olive branch, citing Riverside Park in Agawam’s decision to give passes to abutters.
“You don’t have to say, ‘We do this for you, so you don’t complain,’ you can say, ‘Hey, we’re doing this for you because you’re close,’” Hayes said. “When Six Flags took over Riverside, that all went away and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law hate Six Flags. They used to love Riverside.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.