Family, Friends and Parking at Applefest

My family wants to come and cheer me on
and/or
I need them there to watch my kids.

We do not have the geographical luxury to be "all" to "all" at this race.

Applefest has planned to help you accomplish most of what you want but you will have work with our time table suggestions or you may be disappointed in the results for other than yourself as a runner.

What is Applefest's plan for your family and friends?

When you and your family and friends enter Hollis you will be directed to the then open parking lot. All other possible places are deliberately blocked by police until it is time to start using them. The first lot we use holds over 500 cars and the bus ride is 5 to 10 minutes. When that lot is full we start parking in lots closer to the race.

That way the bus rides get shorter and less prone to traffic grid lock by the chronically late arrivers. The closest lot is over a half a mile away from the race venue. That road is very narrow, has no shoulders and has contant traffic, so few if any try to walk. That translates into it should make no difference to you where anyone parks, so please cooperate with us and allow us to manage what we know will work.

What if someone wants to wing it on their own?

It is not impossible, but it is highly improbably given nature of gridlock traffic. The town of Hollis does has a few roads which encircle the small town center and those roads are part of the race course. These roads and the back roads on most of the course are narrow have no shoulder and often trees and bushes are close to the road.

This means there is no place to park or even pull off the road. So that parking other than on private property is close to impossible. There are few places of business.

I just want to drop off someone at the High School, can I?

We do not want anyone, runner or otherwise to come to the race venue in any other fashion other than by using the buses we provide, and in fact we and the police will go out of our way to prevent you from approaching the area of the high school.

As we said before we do not have the luxury of being "all" to "all" at this race. We can do a wonderful job for the runner, better by far than most races. Your family can share in that if they follow the method we've outlined.

What if my family and I are coming in more than one vehicle?

It would be best if you met your other vehicle outside of Hollis then come in together at the same time and ride the buses together. A 9 AM arrival at the Hollis town line could make it very tight for you to make the last bus.

A better option is to meet your other vehicle at Nashua Mall parking lot which is just after you get off the Everett Turnpike at exit 6 in Nashua. That is probably the approach to Hollis you would using anyway.

From there you can follow each other to the same parking lot which the buses are currently serving. NOTE: the buses will only be at the lot we are currently filling at that time.