Fourteen aluminum platform stage sections used for dozens of city festivals and concerts each year were stolen from a secured area underneath Route 79 over the past week.
The theft, reported to police on Tuesday, has festival coordinators scrambling to find replacement stages before the Heritage Park Harvest Festival set to begin Oct. 2.
Paul C. Simister, president of the Friends of Heritage State Park, said the platforms, owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, are valued at about $17,000. Each section measures 4 feet by 8 feet, is 8-inches thick and weighs roughly 100 pounds.
“It’s an aluminium-reinforced folding and adjustable stage with clamps. When we have festivals, the size of the staging needed is always different, and these stagings are used to attach to the Showmobile,” said Simister. “Many bands require additional staging than just the size of the Showmobile, and this is what was stolen.”
Simister said they believe [...]

Original post by Jay Pateakos