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Strawberry Festival, downtown businesses clash over proposed uniform festival layout; ordinance debate continues
Summary
London Strawberry Festival organizers and downtown business representatives differed over a proposed ordinance to codify a single festival layout. Public comment highlighted safety, accessibility and business impacts. Council kept the proposed ordinance under review and invited more guidance and a potential work session.
Clarissa Ramey, representing the London Strawberry Festival board, told the council during the audience concerns portion that the festival board prefers a center-of-street vendor layout and objected to a proposed ordinance that would codify a single, uniform layout for downtown events.
Ramey said the festival’s board and volunteers had produced an alternate layout intended to preserve a 36-foot clear lane for emergency vehicles while placing vendors so attendees could see storefronts and still accommodate stages and aisles. She said the festival’s safety meeting conversations with police and the fire department informed that plan and that volunteers had not yet been able to consult all downtown businesses in person.
David Mars, president of the 1811 Downtown District, said he surveyed business owners and spoke with at least 10 downtown merchants in the last several days; most he contacted…
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