What's at stake?
ArtHop on Aug. 1 will be restricting all outside events, vendors and entertainers as a way to tackle the large crowds affecting sidewalk maneuverability and ongoing high temperatures.
ArtHop — Fresno’s largest monthly art-themed downtown street festival — will move indoors next month due to extreme heat.
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents downtown neighborhoods, made the announcement Friday morning at a joint news conference with the Downtown Fresno Partnership. The indoor ArtHop on Aug. 1 will not feature any outdoor events, vendors or entertainers, permitted or unpermitted.
“We know that the heat is going to continue and we know that crowds are getting bigger and bigger and we have a responsibility to get ahead of any potential health and safety concerns,” Arias said.
The move comes following a meeting between city and county officials and the state’s alcohol sales regulator on Thursday, around concerns related to ArtHop, Arias said.
The indoor ArtHop announcement was met with skepticism from some new conference attendees, who shouted frustrated questions asking why vendors with permits are being lumped together with unpermitted vendors. Arias said it was easier — and fairer — if the city makes the restriction applicable to all.
Vendors disagreed.
“This is going to hurt a lot of small businesses,” said Mike “Oz” Osegueda, president of Fresno Street Eats, which curates an assortment of vendors during ArtHop along Fulton Street in the Brewery District alongside Vendor Village.
“Our vendors are all permitted, licensed and insured, so to say that we’re the same as the guy that’s setting up on the corner selling beers out of a cooler — it’s not the same,” he added.
“I don’t think we should be punished the same way.”
No vendors or vendor associations were present at the meeting, according to Arias.
Lilia Gonzáles Chávez, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council, also did not attend Friday’s indoor ArtHop announcement. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
The monthly art event has morphed into a massive street festival, drawing around 15,000 people each month, according to cellphone data shared by Elliot Balch, CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership.
The evolution of the iconic Fresno event has created tensions between different artist and vendor groups over who ArtHop is for, Marek Warszawski reported for The Fresno Bee.
Fresno’s Code Enforcement Division will be on hand at the upcoming Art Hop to enforce the outdoor restriction. Arias said those who violate the city’s request will be fined, but that vendors can email events@downtownfresno.org to inquire about indoor venue space.
“Once we get through today’s announcement, we’ll start meeting with them and seeing what feedback they have to offer,” Arias said.
Part of Arias’ news conference also focused on the recently released Measure P art funds, which he said would bring about more art that artists would need adequate space to display, citing this as another reason for the decision to move the event indoors.
ArtHop is Fresno’s largest unpermitted event, meaning that no fees are paid by organizers for police presence, public restroom access, alcohol vendors, cooling areas, traffic control plans, road closures or fire inspections.
According to Arias, if ArtHop were to become a permitted event made to accommodate 15,000 attendees, it would cost organizers around $100,000 monthly.
For now, the restriction is only in place for ArtHop on Aug. 1. Arias said that he currently does not know if the same restriction will be applied to September’s Art Hop, saying he won’t know until after Aug. 1.
Disclosure: Mike Osegueda is a member of Fresnoland’s Board of Directors.
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