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?

Families and friends may ride the buses providing there room for runners first and foremost. No pets or large strollers.

What is the story on food and drink at Applefest?

The post race food and drinks are for the runners only until such time as we make a formal overt announcement that the food tent is open to all. It will be open to all when we feel in our unilateral judgement that we have enough food and drink for the runners still out on the course.

Please have your family and friend bring their own snacks and drinks.

What are the travel, traffic and parking logistics?

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 constant 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 all that is left is private property. There are very 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 it has been such a traffic grid-locking problem in past years 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.

Buses stop running somewhere around 9:30 to 9:45 because where they drive is where 1500 runners will be running and it takes the police 10 minutes to close down and clear the core area in the center of town so the race can start. No traffic from any direction moves toward the center of Hollis after 9:45. First leg relay runners need to be on the relay buses at 9:45 and they leave all at once, no follow-on relay buses.

The buses start back to the parking lots around 12 to 12:30 depending on conditions.