Lights turned off on holiday light show
Police Chief Robert Ferreira recommended that the town not do business with Matthew Glaser, left, of BOLD Media until he came up with a suitable traffic plan and pay all bills ahead of time. Photo by Christian Uva
Select Board member Brian Giovanoni and Chair Teresa Farley criticized Glaser for not having the proper applications in place and not paying bills on time. Photo by Christian Uva
Police Chief Robert Ferreira recommended that the town not do business with Matthew Glaser, left, of BOLD Media until he came up with a suitable traffic plan and pay all bills ahead of time. Photo by Christian Uva
Select Board member Brian Giovanoni and Chair Teresa Farley criticized Glaser for not having the proper applications in place and not paying bills on time. Photo by Christian Uva
MIDDLEBORO — The light show was scheduled to start in November, but it came in October.
An intense discussion about a planned holiday light show at Boston/Cape Cod KOA Holiday on Plymouth Street ended with a cease and desist letter on future ticket sales sent to the company planning the show.
Members of the Middleboro Select Board scolded Matthew Glaser, the CEO of entertainment company BOLD Media, for not having taken the proper steps to plan for the event. They also called him out for not paying bills to the Middleboro Police and Fire departments on time for a previous event.
“I don’t even have an application in front of me,” said Select Board Chair Teresa Farley.
Glaser began selling tickets for a holiday drive-through light show in September against the recommendation of Police Chief Robert Ferreira. He had already sold 120 tickets.
“You’re continuing to sell tickets for an event that you do not have a permit for, and I’m really troubled by that, to be honest,” Farley said.
Glaser projected that at least 5,000 or 6,000 cars would come to the event across 32 days.
“My concern is 5,000 cars across three holidays,” said Select Board member Brian Giovanoni. “I don’t want to ruin people’s holiday for the people who live on Precinct Street,” a nearby road that would be affected by the increased traffic.
Police Chief Robert Ferreira recommended to the Select Board not to let the event happen or to do business with BOLD Media. He said that he would want Glaser to pay for all police details up front and create a full traffic plan, which would require an outside company.
Ferreira said that BOLD Media still owed $2,200 in bills for police details from a 2025 "fire and ice" event at KOA. Glaser said he did not pay all the bills until September. Ferreira also said Glaser only gave him a check for the Fire Department on Oct. 5.
The 2025 event caused a long traffic jam along Route 44. A police detail showed up to monitor traffic, but Glaser said officers stopped showing up after the third day of the event.
Glaser said multiple times that similar events in towns like Marshfield and Mystic, Connecticut did not cause traffic.
Glaser said that he spoke with the Town Clerk and contacted the Board of Health, Fire Department and Police Department before the event. He did not contact the Select Board or get a special event permit, which is required for events occurring over four days.
“We did everything correctly when we came here to Middleboro the first time,” he said.
Giovanoni called the ordeal a “farce,” to which Glaser replied, “I think the farce is your attitude.”
As Glaser left Town Hall, he said, “This is America.”
The Select Board said that it would demand BOLD Media to refund every ticket previously purchased.
A large group of neighbors came to speak out against the event, but Farley told them the Select Board didn’t need to hear further discussion.
“I appreciate you … but we’re good, we got it,” said Farley.
