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Mayor Doug Essek has proposed lifting the $500 food truck fee for the Fredonia festivals for this year. In light of lost revenues by those vendors as well as the establishments in the village due to COVID-19 the Board of Trustees agreed it would be a fitting thing to do.
The discussion began at the Board of Trustees meeting where Trustee James Lynden cited the OBSERVER article about a few of the festivals possibly moving to the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds due to the food truck law.
"If that's their intention to move so it's no longer part of Fredonia I would suggest that we don't hold these dates," Lynden stated in regard to a resolution blocking festival dates in the village. "Maybe someone wants to start a new festival. if they're making suggestions that they're going to take it out of the village I can't see that we hold the date. Do we hold these dates?"
Lynden talked about all the upkeep and needs, such as police and park cleanup for the event, that is needed in the planning. Trustee Roger Britz then floated the idea of forming a committee with Festivals Fredonia to discuss the food truck law more in depth.
"To hold these dates ,I don't think is an issue at this time due to the circumstances of what may happen," Britz replied. "This is something that's happened year after year. These are dates that are pretty specific to their festivals. Again cancellations come and go, so my point is if we pass the resolution those dates are blocked, they have a date when they have to cancel by and would give ample time to the village."
Essek noted that the dates may still end up being canceled depending on the possible restriction on large gatherings. "Dates are just dates and they really don't cost the village anything until we hold the events," he said.
Lynden said he "didn't like being held over a fire as far as changing our laws to meet their needs." He did, however, say that he understood the issues of COVID's impact.
Essek suggested that the board temporarily lift the food truck fees for the year of 2021 on all festivals in light of the lost revenue by those vendors from the pandemic.
"There's been businesses, everyone has been suffering financially, my proposal is to waive the $500 fee just for this one season, get our festivals, get our brick and mortar some foot traffic, to have business be brought back into the village," Essek said.
There would still be small fees for inspections and such, but they'd be much, much lower and Lyden agreed that that was good idea
Mark Mackey, Fredonia Farm Festival chairman, soon joined the meeting and added his feelings to the discussion saying that the festival isn't holding anything over the heads of the board members.
"What draws people into the festivals are the food trucks and charging them $500 on top of the fee that they have to pay us, they're not going to make any money, so we can't get anybody in here," Mackey stated. "The idea is people just don't come to the park and then leave. They walk up and down Main Street, they go inside some brick and mortars, they visit Fredonia. I don't want to move it, it's been at Barker Commons for 50 years, I want to see it stay there, that's where it belongs, but we need food"
Later in the meeting the board agreed 4-0 to hold the dates, per the resolution, and plan on passing the $500 waiver resolution at the next board meeting.