Does regulation hamper street fairs?
Photo by ohad on Flickr.
Want to hold an outdoor festival? You have to get signatures of 90% of the businesses and residents within 500 feet (that’s about two short blocks or one long block). In many other cities, street fairs are a regular sight on warm weather weekends. Vendors take over a few blocks of a major street, selling food, clothing and accessories. It’s fun (and convenient) to serendipitously run across these fairs.
In DC, we have Adams Morgan day and a few others, but they are relatively few and far between. Does the high regulatory bar keep away more street fairs? Is that what we want?
Other cities’ street fairs do have their problems. In New York, most street fairs are exactly the same because a small number of street-fair-organizing companies manage them all, but neighborhoods are starting to insist on changes. The ideal fair features neighborhood cuisine and diverse, interesting, local merchants.
Do you think DC should have more street fairs?