Church offers free Fall Festival parking, shuttle
Sep. 4, 2019 PLYMOUTH EAGLE.
Plymouth Michigan News
AT YOUR SERVICE-FALL FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND
A complete guide to all the Fall Festival activities is included in this weeks edition of The Eagle.
Who needs Uber or Lyft when volunteers from Faith Baptist Church are available to provide an air-conditioned, comfortable ride to and from all the Fall Festival fun?
As has become a tradition, the church will provide free parking and transport visitors to the festival from the church location at 45000 North Territorial Road, about a quarter mile west of Sheldon Road.
The large shuttle vans driven by church volunteers will provide a ride into the center of Fall Festival action.
“We think this helps folks enjoy the festival without added stress of finding a parking spot,” explained church member James Hooper who volunteers with the shuttle service every year. “It’s part of our church outreach program just to let people know we are here.”
As the festival will close an hour early this year on both Friday and Saturday, the shuttles will accommodate riders until “the last person shows up needing a ride,” Hooper said. He said he expected it to be a bit earlier, but that the shuttles would run every 20 minutes or so from the church to the drop off point near city hall, right in the center of the action.
“We will pick people up there, too, who are ready to return to their cars,” he said. The church will welcome those waiting in line inside the air-conditioned building, he added.
Most of the public parking lots in the city will be manned by various service clubs charging $5 or so to park. Those funds are used to support the community service projects of the clubs like Special Olympics, Lions, Rotary and Civitans. Without those volunteers, flow though the lots would be subject to parking jams and even double parking. The volunteers keep a close watch on parking availability and keep traffic in control, according to Festival Chairman Eric Joy.
“If I have one piece of advice, it is for people to take the shuttle,” Joy said. “It makes the entire event far more pleasant for everyone and the church volunteers do a great job.”
The shuttle will operate for about a half-hour before the festival opens and for about half hour after it closes, or until all the riders have been returned to their vehicles.
Plymouth Voice.
