The week of the Penn Cove Musselfest, event organizers didn’t know if they were going to be able to use the community green for parking.

Throughout the week, they checked with officials each day for an update, finally getting the OK Friday, the day before the event began.

“That was very uncomfortable,” said event organizer Cindy Olson, adding that event organizers and city workers were on “pins and needles.”

With an estimated 10,000 people coming through Coupeville that weekend, visitors parked wherever they could find a spot.

Organizers tried to prepare for the parking eventualities in case the community green next to the library had not been available, Olson said. Though it was used in the end, additional parking was needed, even across town.

“Our parking issue is a creation of our overall success with all of our events, and as with any small community it is going to cause problems which are not easily solved,” said Lynda Eccles, executive director for the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce.

The problem with the community green is all about sogginess. If the grassy land is too wet, parking isn’t allowed.

“The green has always been the answer to additional parking, however, there are times when this is not possible because of the drainage on the field,” Eccles said. “Even the (farmers) market has had to use the parking lot in the early part of the season if we have had a lot of rain.”

Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard said concerns over using the community green primarily happen during the shoulder season.

“It’s great to have something like (Musselfest) on the shoulder season,” she said. “One of the challenges is you never know if you’re going to get good weather or bad weather.”

Wet weather did close one area previously used for parking — the grass lot next to Town Hall.

In the future, Conard suggested event organizers look at working more with schools, churches and the county for parking.

This is something, Olson said, they are already doing.

“As an event planner, I feel we’ve done everything we can do accommodate parking,” Olson said.

A longterm option to address ongoing uncertainty over the use of the community green during wet seasons is development of the community green plan.

The Town of Coupeville developed a plan in 2011, but has yet to move forward with the proposals, which include the addition of a bathroom, lighting and a potential gradient system built into the grass area, which would give the area structure and solve many of the concerns about vehicles tearing up the grass when wet.

Conard said the town hasn’t moved forward with the community green plan due to a lack of funding and other priorities.

“But we do have some money earmarked for a bathroom and lighting,” she said. “That whole development on that parking lot is on the radar.”

For the foreseeable future, organizers are continuing to look at options.

“Because there is no immediate answer to this problem I think we have to look at a Plan B for any event in the future where parking is going to be a major problem rather than dwell on what we cannot control,” Eccles said. “I don’t want to see Coupeville full of black-top parking lots, and it won’t happen anyway.”

The largest expense for Musselfest for the Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association was the shuttle service the group uses to transport chowder tasters around.

Organizers actually added another shuttle this year that transported people who ended up parking down at the high school.

Cuts to Island Transit also affected the event.

“It was such a unique situation for us not to have a Saturday bus,” Olson said. “We got quite a few calls about that.”

Because of that, Olson said the association is exploring some other kind of bus service.

“I think we’re doing better and better,” she said. “For every event you have to have parking, toilets and trash. The town has to continue to grow with us.”