Profiting from Phish Concert-related sales boon to shops en route August 5, 2003 - Portland Maine Press Herald By Doug Harlow FAIRFIELD — The economic trickle from 75,000 Phish fans migrating to and from the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone this past weekend made it all the way downstream to Exit 36. From the sprawl of his shop, Tri-Signs Inc., in the old Wickes Lumber Co. building off Upper Main Street and Interstate 95, Jim Banks and his company manager Jennifer Clarke offered a "Phish Stop" in central Maine, more than five hours from Limestone. The company offered Phish T-shirts of various designs, Phish bumper stickers and transfers, tie-dye shirts, Grateful Dead items and a place to rest en route, Clarke said Monday. "Today is going to be one of the best days," Clarke said, printing up shirts for a young couple from central Massachusetts. "It's been good. We ordered 400 white T-shirts and 200 tie-dyed shirts shipped next day." Clarke, who said festival-related sales would top $500 in unexpected receipts, added that her boss got the idea during a brainstorming session after lunch on Thursday. "We were talking about going to fairs when he said 'What about the Phish concert?' " she said. "I said, 'Jim, it's tomorrow.' It was about 2 in the afternoon when we came up with the idea." They created Phish logos with the use of computer software and then sent them to a special printer where color and black-and-white images emerged ready for transfer to fabric. Inside the store around noon Monday, Gwen Richardson, 18, of Phillipston, Mass. and her friend Ryan Thompson, 18, of neighboring Templeton, Mass., said they saw one of Tri-Signs signs off the highway, southbound, in Clinton and decided to stop in. "We're just checking out T-shirts," Thompson said, noting he and Richardson left Limestone late Sunday night. "We didn't like the T-shirts at the festival and they were too expensive." The pair said the music was great during the two-day affair simply called the It festival, if not a little muddy and a little crowded. "We waited 15 hours in traffic," Richardson said of their efforts to get to the festival site. "It was 25 miles bumper to bumper — 70,000 people just to see Phish. "Everybody was happy. It was nice. Kids held up signs saying 'Beep if you're going Phishing.' It's cool." Fans began packing up and leaving after the music stopped at midnight. By late morning there was a five-mile bottleneck in Houlton as vehicles streamed southward onto Interstate 95, the Associated Press reported. The festival surpassed two previous Phish festivals in attendance in 1997 and 1998. "The Great Went" was held in Limestone in 1997 and "Lemonwheel" was held in 1998. State police estimated the crowd to be 75,000 people this time around, compared to 60,000 for the two previous festivals. "With that many people in Limestone it made it the biggest city in Maine," Richardson said. "It even had its own post office." Clarke at Tri-Signs said she and Banks placed 11 signs along the interstate advertising their "Phish Stop," but state Department of Transportation officials removed the ones placed on public land. "They said it was a dangerous distraction for people on the Interstate," she said. "They gave us an extremely hard time." Clarke said the company ended up with two big signs on private property along the highway, one in Sidney and the other in Clinton. She said the next time there is a big festival in Limestone, she and the folks at Tri-Signs will be ready. "If they come back next year it'll be different," she said. "We'll be prepared with advertising and we might get food and drink concessions. "If we plan ahead, it'll be better." Copyright © 2003 Portland Maine Press Herald