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Council approves Big River Steampunk Festival with later Thursday street‑closure
Summary
The City Council approved the Big River Steampunk Festival event packet and amended the Thursday street closure to 10 p.m. to ease downtown business impact; the motion passed on roll call with one dissent.
The Hannibal City Council approved the Big River Steampunk Festival event packet on March 17, voting to move the Thursday street closure from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Festival organizer Tammy Riley told the council that closing streets at 10 p.m. would allow some vendors to pull in earlier but that asking vendors to set up in the dark would not be practical. “If they pull in at 10, they would start setting up until 3 or 4 in the morning and then be expected to be back and then all day,” Riley said, explaining why a full overnight set‑up is not feasible.
Council discussion weighed downtown business interests and public-safety logistics. One council member said the later closure would help businesses remain open longer on Thursday; others raised concerns about barriers and street-department logistics. Several councilors noted that physical Jersey barriers would not be installed until Friday morning but that vendors could pull in earlier.
A roll-call vote approved the packet (yea: Lueders, Fleetwood, Munger, Haycraft, Cohen; nay: Azataya), and Mayor McCoy declared the motion carried. The council’s action allows vendors to pull in earlier but keeps heavier barrier installation for Friday morning.
What’s next: Event organizers and city departments will coordinate exact barrier placement and logistics before the festival.
