PALETO BAY PLANS 128TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

PALETO BAY — The Township of Paleto Bay confirmed this week that it intends to hold a large-scale civic celebration at a TBD date marking 128 years since the town's founding, an event provisionally branded "Paleto 128" in early planning documents obtained by Weazel News.

The announcement arrives roughly six weeks after Blaine County's Semiquincentennial celebration in Sandy Shores, a multi-day event that drew record attendance to the southern end of the county and, by the county's own accounting, cost considerably more than it took in. Paleto Bay officials described the new event as "regionally competitive."

The Semiquincentennial in Sandy Shores was, by most measures, a success. Attendance estimates ranged from 9,000 to well above that depending on which agency produced the figure. Vendors reported strong sales. The closing fireworks display was visible from the Grand Senora Desert and, according to several Sheriff's Office logs, from the Alamo Sea shoreline. It was also expensive in both directions. Blaine County has not published a final consolidated figure, but line items disclosed to date — pyrotechnics, staging, temporary power, private security, road closure infrastructure, sanitation, and post-event cleanup following what officials have called "unanticipated crowd conditions" — place the total in the tens of millions.

Attendees absorbed a share of it directly. Parking in the designated lots ran $250 per vehicle, a figure that generated sustained complaint on local pages and at least one organized attempt to park along the shoulder of Route 68 instead, which the Sheriff's Office ended. The county has defended the rate as reflecting the cost of shuttling, lot preparation, and traffic control.

What Paleto is proposing
Early planning documents describe a three day-.....

a vendor market, live music on a temporary stage, and a fireworks display launched over the water. Along with various locations throughout paleto bay of attractions. The documents list the same pyrotechnics contractor used in Sandy Shores.

A preliminary budget figure appears in the documents but is marked as an estimate and is followed by a note reading "pending County participation." Weazel News is not publishing the figure while its status is unclear. Parking is addressed in a single line: "structure under review." Asked directly whether Paleto Bay intends to charge $250 to park, the Township said no decision has been made and that the Sandy Shores rate was "a county determination, not ours."

Asked whether the Township would rule out a rate at that level, the Township repeated that no decision has been made.

Paleto Bay's permanent population is a fraction of what Sandy Shores drew over the Semiquincentennial weekend, and the town's road network narrows to a single coastal route in both directions. The planning documents acknowledge this in a section headed "ingress considerations," which runs four sentences. Response in Paleto Bay has been mixed and largely practical.

Several business owners along the main strip told Weazel News they support the event on the straightforward grounds that the Sandy Shores weekend was good for anyone selling anything. One described the Semiquincentennial as the best two days his shop had in three years. Blaine County has not committed funding. Others were more focused on the arithmetic. "They spent that in Sandy Shores for two hundred and fifty years," one resident said outside the town hall Wednesday. "What's the number for a hundred and twenty-eight?"

Weazel News has submitted a records request for the full planning packet, including the budget estimate and the parking structure under review.