Strawberry Festival and downtown businesses clash over vendor layout; council hears split testimony

Members of the public, festival organizers and downtown business representatives addressed council during the audience-concerns portion of the meeting over a proposed city rule — now before council as an ordinance amendment governing festival layouts — that would favor placing vendor booths along the curb rather than down the center of Main Street.

Clarissa Ramey, speaking for the London Strawberry Festival, presented a revised event layout and safety packet and urged council not to codify a single “uniform” layout for every festival. Ramey said the festival’s preferred center-of-street setup offered two pedestrian corridors and encouraged foot traffic past storefronts; she provided sample vendor measurements and said typical booths are about 8 feet wide and — with awnings or overhangs — can project to about 12–14 feet, reducing available emergency-lane width if placed improperly.

Ramey also disputed characterizations of the festival’s position in a city summary: she said the fire chief had not insisted a center placement is required but had said the department needs “adequate spacing,” and she cited a figure discussed at a safety meeting that adequate clear lane width is 18 feet. She said some business replies favored center placement and that business sentiment in the downtown association was mixed.

David Mars, president of the 18 11 Downtown District, told council that he had contacted roughly 10 downtown business owners in recent days and that eight of them strongly preferred the center-of-street vendor layout used at several events in 2024. Mars said the center layout created two corridors that better distributed pedestrian traffic and generally helped businesses by increasing visibility and pass-by traffic.

City staff, including event and safety planners, had circulated an administrative layout after outreach to police, fire and downtown groups; the administration’s summary recommended curbside placement in part to keep cables and equipment off sidewalks and to maintain clear paths for emergency and patrol access. Several council members said they prefer written, uniformly applied standards to avoid perceived favoritism and to provide clearer permit guidance, while others urged flexibility because different events have different footprints and needs.

Council discussed Ordinance 111-25, an amendment to the city code that would codify standards for downtown festivals and events; that measure remained at second reading and was not adopted at the meeting. Councilmembers agreed to hold a work session to draft or refine uniform guidelines and to clarify the existing event-permit application process and responsibilities (including routing of state road-closure notifications to ODOT for closures beyond city limits).

Ending: Council heard competing testimony but took no final vote on the festival layout ordinance; members asked staff to document permit procedures and promised a focused work session to try to reconcile safety, business and community access concerns.