With the festival season heating up, Selectmen have devised a way to bring in revenue from vendors who sell goods at festivals on town property throughout the year.

Selectmen unanimously voted Tuesday to charge event organizers a $50 application fee and a $25 fee for each vendor coming in under the organizers permission. The new special event permit policy is effective immediately for all new event permits.

Selectman Steve Holmes said the policy will generate revenue for the town without burdening festival organizers.

"It's not too extraordinary that no vendor can afford it," he said.

Selectmen Peter Teitelbaum said the policy has a "self-enforcement mechanism" because organizers will be policing their own events, making sure the only vendors there are the ones who paid for the privilege.

"Not only will they be upset that someone snuck in for free, they'll have to hear a chorus of the other vendors who had to pay extra to do this," he said.

Holmes said that event organizers will be held accountable by virtue of having to apply every time they want to hold an event.

"If they come in here and pay us for 10 vendors and we show up and there are 200, next year when they come for the master permit the answer might just be no," he said.

Event organizers are also responsible for insuring the vendors, who must be identified in the application to Selectmen.