Carver Select Board Delays King Richard's Fair License Vote to July 1

CARVER -- June 17, 2025, Carver Select Board delays King Richard's Fair license vote while learning its health insurance group is set to dissolve. The board, meeting without member Geoff Hoffman, reviewed a June 12, 2025 traffic control plan for the fair's new Edaville site on Pine Street, featuring dedicated festival and residential lanes, variable message boards coordinated with MassDOT Area 5 in Taunton, and a 2,900-vehicle Edaville parking cap, but deferred a vote to July 1 after Town Counsel Greg Corbo flagged that the Planning Board has not yet approved two parking zones and the Rochester auxiliary lot remains unfinalized. The board also discovered, with Corbo present for the first time, that Massachusetts General Law Chapter 138, Section 14 limits for-profit fair operators to beer and wine under one-day special licenses, a restriction that had apparently gone unnoticed in prior years. Separately, health insurance consultant Sue Shalhoub of Cook and Company told the board that Gateway Health Group, in which Carver holds a 52 percent share, is expected to dissolve by July 2026, leaving the town to weigh replacement options including the state Group Insurance Commission, which requires a December 1 notification, Mayflower Municipal Health Group, and MIIA, with potential run-out liability exposure still unknown.