ALTAMONT — WGNA’s 13th annual Countryfest was a hot-ticket Saturday at the Altamont fairgrounds, with fans pouring in from all over the Capital Region, some of whom got burned by counterfeit tickets.

Colonie Police arrested Michael Pfau, of Schenectady, on May 17 for selling tickets he had stolen from Printing Services of New York Inc., where he works, said John Banalstyne of the Colonie Police Department this week. Banalstyne told The Enterprise that printers make plenty of extra tickets to events in advance and seal them in plastic, in case something happens to the primary batch.
"He took a whole wrap of 2,000," said Banalstyne, adding that police recovered most of the illegal tickets. He said that police got a call from someone who had bought a legitimate ticket and compared it to a ticket that her friend had bought without knowing it was counterfeit. Police charged Pfau with forgery, a felony.
Both Banalstyne and Selena Dutcher, marketing director for WGNA, said that this wasn’t a common problem. "This is the first time I’ve run into something like this," said Banalstyne. Dutcher told The Enterprise that this was the first time that this had happened at Countryfest.
WGNA considered the event a "huge success," said Dutcher. She said that it was also good for Altamont. "Stewart’s and Ketchum’s were selling out of beverages by 10 in the morning," she said.

Estimates of the size of the crowd went from 28,000, according to Bob Santorelli, president of the Altamont Fair’s board of directors, to 35,000, according to Anthony Salerno, Altamont’s public safety commissioner.

Either way, it was the largest crowd that has been at the fairgrounds at one time, Santorelli told The Enterprise on Monday. The second-largest crowd was Countryfest in 1994, which drew 22,000 fans, he said.

When the crowd filled the fair’s parking lots to capacity this year, organizers used the back-up plan, said Salerno. The parking lots at Guilderland high school were used for overflow and concert goers were shuttled to the fairgrounds. Parked cars and trucks also lined many village streets.
"It pays the bills," said Santorelli of events like Countryfest. The fair rents out its grounds to a variety of groups for events ranging from animal shows to Irish and Scottish festivals. The tri-city fair uses its grounds for just one week in August each year.
"There are only three events that I don’t like," Rosemary McGowan, an Altamont resident who lives next to the fairgrounds, told The Enterprise this week. She didn’t like last year’s Celticfest, last week’s Fox23fest, or Saturday’s Countryfest, because they were too loud. She had to take her collection of knick-knacks off of their shelf on Saturday because the bass from Countryfest’s music was shaking her house, she said.
"I’m not saying ‘Don’t have the music’," McGowan said. "I just don’t like it that loud." She suggested that the village could look into a noise ordinance or construct a baffle fence, which would help contain the noise on the fairgrounds.
"They bit off more than they can chew," she said, referring to Countryfest and the crowds that it brought. "I don’t think that as a village we’re set up for 30,000 people," she said.
"I believe it could be a problem if it’s not properly managed," said Salerno of the crowd. He said that he and the village had anticipated large numbers and began planning for the event over two months ago.

All 10 officers in the Altamont police force were on duty as well as six Guilderland officers, eight State Troopers, and four Albany County Sheriff’s deputies, Salerno told The Enterprise. He said that there were no arrests at the event or in the village.
"I hate to sound like my father," said Eric Marczak, who was at the show, "but they were a bunch of wild animals." He was appalled at the behavior of concert-goers, saying that they were there to drink beer, not listen to music.

He wrote in a letter to the Enterprise editor this week about concert-goers urinating in horse stalls and stealing cell phones.
"It didn’t have the feel of the fair or even the Irish Fest," said Marczak, comparing it to other events held at the fairgrounds.
Marczak said that he liked the music and the tickets — $28 in advance, $33 at the gate — were a good price for six major country acts. After attending the event at the fairgrounds, though, he said, "I’d pay a little bit more to see it at the Palace or SPAC."
"I think it was a very well coordinated event," said Mayor James Gaughan. He also said that he is open to suggestions from the community about handling future events at the fair. He is looking for "improvement opportunities," he said, "including addressing the noise."