Fresno greenlights return of outdoor vendors on ArtHop nights

The City of Fresno will allow the return of a street fair downtown on ArtHop nights starting in June, Councilmember Miguel Arias told Fresnoland in an interview Wednesday. 

The decision comes roughly nine months after the city abruptly put a stop to outdoor activity at the popular event every first Thursday of the month. The event, which had a humble beginning in galleries across town three decades ago, spawned a massive, unregulated street fair that drew thousands to downtown Fresno in recent years.

“We have found a path forward,” Arias said, “with three primary partners to return the street component of ArtHop back to downtown on the first Thursday of the month. 

“It’s taken a lot of work, and I commend the stakeholders for the amount of work that they’ve invested in this process,” he added. “The public will continue to experience what they had in the past with more structure and more improvements – things like public restrooms, police presence, code enforcement and basic organizational structure.”

Those partners include the Fresno Arts Council, the Downtown Fresno Partnership and Tioga Sequoia Brewing Co. in collaboration with Fresno Street Eats, according to Arias.

Each one will take on different roles organizing food vendors, art vendors, performing artists and along different hubs downtown.

The Arts Council has organized ArtHop venues in downtown and the Tower District for decades. Fresnoland reached out to the Arts Council for comment on its role with the reintroduction of the street fair.

As for Fresno Street Eats and Tioga’s role, the partners will coordinate a street closure in the Brewery District along Fulton Street and organize food vendors on first Thursdays.

In a statement to Fresnoland, Mike “Oz” Osegueda, president of Fresno Street Eats, called the move a “win for the brick-and-mortar businesses in the Brewery District” as well as for “efforts to get people downtown.”

“My hope is that a cohesive and collaborative approach to ArtHop is great for everyone,” he added, “from the art galleries, who are the foundation of ArtHop, to the local businesses, who look at this day as a crucial part of their month.”

Prior to this decision, Street Eats and Tioga already coordinated a street closure on Fulton during the May 1 ArtHop, which Tioga’s president Michael Cruz said was a success.

“It’s a huge, huge deal for us,” he said.

“Tioga saw a minimum of three times the amount of people that would show up on an ArtHop that was just in our lot” without the full street closure, he added.

The Downtown Fresno Partnership’s role will include organizing performing artists at three venues downtown: the Cultural Arts District Park on Fulton and Calaveras streets, Kern Plaza outside of Chukchansi Park and the soon-to-be-reopened Mariposa Plaza on Fulton and Mariposa.

Elliott Balch, president of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, told Fresnoland in an interview that his organization plans to reapply for Measure P funds this year for financial support to “activate the area” and to pay performing artists “at a good, healthy rate.”

Those funds, if awarded, likely wouldn’t come in until September, though Balch said they’re still planning to organize performances at those sites next month.

“We’re excited to see how the June event unfolds on the street,” he said, “and hopefully our community comes out and welcomes the return of the street market.”

Fresnoland reached out to the mayor’s office for comment as well.

The decision last August banning outdoor activity on ArtHop nights drew sharp criticism from artists and vendors in town, who said they felt punished for making ArtHop a success capable of drawing as many as 15,000 people downtown.

When asked about the criticism that the city is now just returning something it abruptly took away, Arias said the crackdown was “a necessary step for us to continue to grow ArtHop.”

“Everybody wants to take credit for creating ArtHop,” he said, “but very few people want to take responsibility for paying for the cost of operating ArtHop.”

The city will contribute roughly $20,000 in funding each month to running the street fair, Arias added, including public restrooms and garbage services.

How did we get here?

The decision to ban outdoor activities at ArtHop beginning last August surfaced tensions over what defines the longstanding event.

Some venues complained that street vendors diverted attention from the galleries where ArtHop was born. 

Vendors and artists countered that ArtHop’s evolution and growth was a grassroots success, giving downtown Fresno some much-needed momentum and attracting a younger crowd to spend time there.

There were other factors driving the decision last summer, too, according to the city. That included policing.

At a news conference in July, Mayor Jerry Dyer and Arias announced the introduction of a new event called Why Not Wednesday, which would take place every third Wednesday of the month. The downtown event, which Arias said will continue alongside the reintroduced street fair on first Thursdays, was created as a sort of substitute for the then-canceled street fair on ArtHop nights.

The city selected that day due to the excess of police officers working those nights, Dyer and Arias said – compared with inadequate policing on Thursday nights.

When asked what the difference is now, Arias said they have a “downtown unit fully staffed.”

“I’ve been assured that officers are not being pulled from southwest Fresno,” he said, “or any other neighborhood in order to provide sufficient policing” on ArtHop nights.

Arias also said officers wouldn’t be working overtime those nights but would have their schedules adjusted. 

Fresnoland reached out to the Fresno Police Department for comment on scheduling during ArtHop nights.

Organizers like Fresno Street Eats and Tioga that take out special event permits for street closure the night of would have to take on the cost of additional contract policing depending on how large the event grows, Arias added.

Disclosure: Mike Osegueda is a member of Fresnoland’s board.