Rick Barron, owner of Blues Café on South Del Puerto Avenue, recalled with frustration how merchants were told to bring their wares inside during last year’s Patterson Apricot Fiesta.
Rick Barron, owner of Blues Café on South Del Puerto Avenue, recalled with frustration how merchants were told to bring their wares inside during last year’s Patterson Apricot Fiesta.
“That, to me, was wrong,” Barron said. “These are your merchants who are here day in and day out.”
The local business owner gathered with local public safety officials and Fiesta representatives at Patterson City Hall on Wednesday afternoon to help clear the air about downtown merchants’ concerns.
Though other downtown business owners were invited to the event, Barron was the only one to show up.
He spoke on behalf of other businesses he knew had experienced problems with the previous Fiesta setup. He said that several downtown business owners wanted to sell merchandise outside their stores during the Fiesta but were not allowed to do so.
Patterson Police Services Chief Tyrone Spencer said the city had no problem with people displaying merchandise in front of their businesses as long as a pedestrian path was clear.
Apricot Fiesta secretary Marilyn Hoobler suggested allowing merchants to use up to half of the sidewalk in front of their businesses, and everyone agreed that was a good idea.
Patterson’s City Council will have to vote on the matter for the policy to become official.
Barron also suggested that a signup sheet be distributed for businesses to say what items they are selling, and the Fiesta could arrange vendors so they did not sell the same things nearby.
Some said that was a good idea, though Hoobler said by phone Thursday that the idea would have to be approved by the Fiesta board. It would be nearly impossible to ensure that vendors were not selling the same items as downtown businesses on the same street, she said.
“We can’t make any guarantees.”
Barron also took issue with state Alcoholic Beverage Control department, who he said accused him of allowing people to take beer outside his business, though he said he had not sold any beer yet. The department also asked him to mark his cups, Barron said, which were the same as those used by Fiesta vendors outside his business.
Barron said his staff became nervous after ABC officers berated him, despite the fact that the eatery displayed signs in the café telling people not to take alcoholic beverages outside.
Spencer said law enforcement officials want to make it clear that restaurants should not passively condone people taking alcohol outside their businesses.
If business owners have signs up warning patrons not to take alcohol outside and they tell them to not to bring drinks outdoors, then the businesses are usually judged to have put forward a “good faith effort,” he said.
In the same boat
Like Barron, other Patterson merchants said they had experienced problems at last year’s Fiesta.
Thomas Gheen, owner of Signature Espresso on North El Circulo, said a Fiesta representative told people at his business on the Friday morning of the Fiesta that their cars would be towed if they did not move them. There were signs on other downtown streets reminding residents that the roads would be blocked off, but there was no sign on El Circulo, he said. He said the incident resulted in a great loss of business that morning.
He noted that he makes as much money in two to three days at the Fiesta as he normally would in a month, and he said there needs to be better communication.
The owners of Total Discount on South Del Puerto Avenue said they experienced similar problems. Gina Park, whose family runs the store, said people dressed in orange shirts rode back and forth on a cart, telling her family to move their merchandise indoors.
“I found that very disrespectful,” she said.
Park said the merchandise was not taking up the entire sidewalk, and there had been no problems at past Fiestas. However, Hoobler and city officials said the store’s merchandise ends up spilling onto the street.
Regardless, both the Park family and Gheen liked the idea of being able to use half of the sidewalk.
Hoobler said there's been tension between merchants and the Fiesta from time to time, but it is important that everyone work together. In the case of the parking signs missing from El Circulo last year, she said somebody might have forgotten to post them or they might have been taken.
Fiesta board member Karen Willard also urged for a spirit of cooperation Wednesday, saying the Fiesta exists in part to support downtown businesses.
“We want everyone to make money,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons we do this.”
To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at
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