Festivals are withering due to high costs for permitting

Fee for service versus community building and economic development. A challenge with street festivals is the desire for community building, and local economic development--festivals bring out lots of customers, and this can be significant at the scale of a city's economy.  From the Detroit News article, "Chinatown Block Party seeks to build unity, grow community in Detroit":

"And more festivals like this, more activations like this, where people can come together, learn, build and grow, are needed today," Sweets said. "As a Filipino American and a Detroiter, it's really nice to see an opportunity for not only Chinatown, but other Asian American businesses owners, individuals, cultures, to come and be represented, to show up what we are, who we are, what we do."

Artscape in Baltimore is one of my favorite festivals, not just with arts and crafts vendors, but the participation of programs at the Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art, students presenting their work and projects, nonprofits, and arts organizations, along with music stages.

But covid and changes in government support make the festival very different and less successful today.

The H Street Festival in DC attracts more than 100,000 patrons to its one day event.

But cities focused on reimbursement fees for services--for street closure, inspection, and emergency services, etc.--make it increasingly difficult to hold events ("The economics are rapidly becoming impossible for your favorite street festival," Sherwood News).  

Covid didn't help because many festivals were cancelled during that time, and festivals lost their financing momentum and have had a difficult time getting it back ("The economic ripples of events canceled due to COVID-19," Marketplace, "Festivals in the COVID Age of Crisis," Contemporary Theatre Review).

Events are usually paid for by a mix of sponsorships and booth rental fees, but these "revenues" are often not much more, or less than the cost of the fees to the city, managing the event, and entertainment fees for bands and musicians.

-- "The tension between monetizing public space and placemaking | rethinking how neighborhoods are supported by local governments," 2018
-- "Two sides of the same coin: how to support community events in the face of high charges for permits etc.?," 2011
-- New Visions for New York Street Fairs , Center for an Urban Future, NYC

Security concerns/bollards.  Some reimbursement is justified, with increased concerns over security, as there have been terrorist attacks or devastating accidents at festivals, with deaths, from inadequately closed roads.  Streets closed frequently, such as for farmers markets, and large festivals, should have permanent retractable bollards installed.

Better bollards than vehicles, which can be displaced by a fast moving heavy vehicle.  The best bollards are rated for crashes at 50 mph.

Technical support.  10+ years ago, the Celebrate Fairfax (County, Virginia) organization used to sponsor workshops for organizations wanting to put on festivals.  While many cities have "Special Events Offices," they seem to be more about the regulatory aspect rather than also being charged with providing technical assistance to organizations so that festivals are both more successful and safe.

The Manayunk Arts Festival held on Main Street, which is closed for the occasion.  Tyger Williams, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rising costs make festivals uneconomic ("Street festival organizers say the rising costs of Philadelphia police patrols are crushing them," Philadelphia Inquirer).

In 2019, the Manayunk Development Corp. paid just over $18,800 for the police patrols, sanitation services, and health and safety inspections required to throw the neighborhood’s beloved Manayunk Arts Festival. In 2023, the same amount barely covered the cost of the Philadelphia Police Department alone.

The two-day event is one of the largest outdoor arts festivals in the area, drawing an average of 40,000 people to a four-block stretch of Main Street every June since 1990 to peruse offerings from upward of 250 artists. At first, said executive director Gwen McCauley, the festival was so profitable it could help bankroll other community events. Now, she said, it’s barely breaking even amid increasing bills.

“We’re limping along,” McCauley said.

Also see "The Northern Liberties Night Market is canceled after the costs of required police patrols and sanitation services have more than doubled" and "Midtown Village cancels its fall festival after 20 years, citing rising costs," PI).

Thousands of visitors stroll down Danforth Avenue during the formerly annual street festival Taste of the Danforth, in Toronto, on August 11, 2019. Steve Russell/Toronto Star

Toronto ("When Toronto loses a public event like Taste of the Danforth, it loses more than just a street festival," Toronto Star).

There was a time when Taste of the Danforth, recently cancelled again this year, was a red dot on Toronto summer calendars: free to attend, with delicious food and drink and clever musical programming on offer. A relatively sober urban strip would become a bustling quasi-European thoroughfare; you’d see elders among the teens, interlopers from the west end making their annual pilgrimage to the east. .

Events like DoWest Fest, MixTO, Salsa on St. Clair, Geary Artcrawl and OssFest have supplanted Taste of the Danforth, but in a city of Toronto’s size, no number of street festivals is too high. Owing to our relatively orderly, responsible and respectful nature, Do West Fest, for instance, never rings too far off the hook despite more than a million visitors coursing through its veins over two and a half days.

Festivals are hard to pull off, even with a lot of resources.  It isn't always, but mostly, the "city's fault" that festivals don't reoccur.  At least in Toronto the city has formalized a $3.25 million fund to support festivals ("Here’s why the Taste of the Danforth festival keeps getting cancelled," Star).

Wicker Park Fest.  Photo: JMiller.

Chicago ("Chicago street festivals are struggling. Here's why," Crain's Chicago Business).  According to Crain's, Chicago festivals are having problems, some cancelling, because of a loss of sponsors and a decline in gate revenues.

Unlike festivals I've gone to in other cities, many Chicago festivals charge for admission.  And, like Philadelphia and Toronto, a rise in the various charges by government agencies for the provision of services like inspection and policing.  From the article:

Gate donations are a main revenue stream for Chicago street festivals, which are usually hosted by chambers of commerce to raise money for neighborhood improvement. Because the festivals are held on public ways — i.e., in the middle of the street — Chicago rules stipulate organizers cannot charge an entry fee. Instead, they ask for donations. Though it varies, gate donations typically comprise about one-third of a street festival’s revenue. Vendor fees and sponsorship are other primary revenue streams.

Music festivals.  Community festival issues are different from music festivals ("High costs leaving festivals 'struggling to survive'," BBC, "‘It becomes a no-go zone all summer’: How music festivals are ruining British parks," Daily Telegraph), which are more focused on arts as presentation, especially the presentation of non-local artists, with a place-based focused that is less connected than a community festival.

WRT music festivals, the Philadelphia Inquirer offers an observation that multi-day music festivals do better when they aren't generic, have a distinctive identity and a focus on community building ("How has the Roots Picnic continued to thrive while Made in America has been canceled again?").

Brockwell Park damage after a music festival. Alamy photo.

Another issue is damage, with ticketed or private events in regular public parks like Grant Park in Chicago, home to the Lollapalooza music festival.

There is a tension in holding ticketed/exclusive events in regular parks between the revenue they generate for the park system versus damage and other costs ("Lollapalooza producers to pay $410,000 to clean up Grant Park after this year’s music festival," Chicago Tribune, "The Tough Mudder run ripped up our London park, and residents are paying the price," Guardian), "One-third of Central Park's Great Lawn 'fully destroyed' after damage from Global Citizen Festival, rains," Fox News) and access restrictions ("A New Home for New York Fashion Week," New York Times). 

Solution: Cities should budget monies for festivals.  For community building, neighborhood planning, and local economic development reasons, cities should allocate monies to support these events functioning at the neighborhood and city-wide scales.  

Some cities make some monies available, but it can be very arbitrary on who gets money--connections matter.

Better to set up funding guidelines and a systematic process for awarding funding.