Commission reports art-cart, art nights and Autumn Arts Festival planning; vendors near capacity

The North St. Paul Arts and Culture Commission reviewed event programming and operational items on April 2, including the art cart, a schedule of guided art nights, and progress toward the Autumn Arts Festival vendor list.

Jordan Layman, staff liaison, and commissioners reported that volunteer sign-ups and artist leaders are in place for the scheduled art nights and that the first art-cart deployment will be at Big Truck Night. Layman said the festival vendor list submitted by staff showed roughly 32 vendor sign-ups, with some vendors still outstanding on payment; commissioners identified a target of about 40 vendors for the festival.

Commissioners discussed the 'Taste of North St. Paul' concept (a fall event featuring small-plate samplings from local restaurants) and noted logistical matters including food licensing, event location and whether the city could directly pay participating restaurants. Commissioners recommended making participation as easy as possible for restaurants, suggested weeknight scheduling where restaurants may be less busy and raised the legal/optics question of the city paying businesses directly.

Jordan Layman asked for direction on snowy-card envelopes intended for distribution at Big Truck Night; commissioners agreed on orange envelopes and discussed packaging volunteers to assemble the giveaway packets. Layman reported a supplier price of $8.99 per 40-pack of colorful envelopes; staff proposed buying at least two 40-packs and arranging volunteer packaging before the event.

Other items: utility-box artwork and veteran-park box calls for artists are progressing; the Veterans Park utility box call is planned so the work could be completed by the park's tenth anniversary in August. The commission also discussed outreach for new event spaces and food vendors.