Merchants in San Juan Bautista are concerned the bustling street
fairs that bring thousands of tourists to the Mission City’s
streets over the weekends are taking away business.
San Juan Bautista – Merchants in San Juan Bautista are concerned the bustling street fairs that bring thousands of tourists to the Mission City’s streets over the weekends are taking away business.
They hope to work with the city to find a happy medium that will address their concerns and be good for tourism.
A group of restaurant owners and merchants held an informal meeting Wednesday night to brainstorm ideas to bring tourists into their eateries and shops during the street fairs, which some merchants believe are taking business away from local establishments, said Jose Juan, co-owner of JJ’s Burgers.
“I’ve been noticing less and less people in the restaurant,” he said. “We are a tourist town, though, that’s why we need a solution.”
Street fairs hawking everything from arts and crafts, antiques, food and wine line the streets more than 10 weekends out of the year. For instance, this Saturday brings the 28th Annual Art/Craft Show Wine Festival to the city.
The topic first came about last month during a town hall meeting where city officials and concerned residents and merchants gathered to discuss the problem, according to Vice Mayor Charles Geiger.
Geiger said street fairs, which have been a San Juan tradition for decades, put at least $35,000 into city coffers annually, and can draw upwards of 15,000 tourists over a two- or three-day period. And after they visit once, the hope is they come back to spend more money in the permanent shops, restaurants and hotels, he said.
However, because there are more and more food vendors lining the streets during the fairs, tourists would rather get a quick-fix with some finger food than take the time to venture into one of San Juan’s restaurants and have a sit-down meal, Geiger said.
“We need to inform the citizens of the benefits to San Juan. This makes money for the city,” he said. “But every weekend these happen – the restaurants make money on the weekends. We need to help our restaurants.”
Geiger suggested giving restaurant owners free booth space, which can run between $175 to $200 per booth, during street fairs to market their businesses and hopefully draw tourists in for a meal. From those booths, which usually line the town’s main street, Third Street, Geiger said the city receives $15 per booth.
However, Juan said even with the free booth he would then have to get a special license to sell food on the street, hire someone to man the booth and spend the time preparing items specifically for the booth instead of in the confines of his establishment.
He offered up the possibility of cutting down on the number of food vendors, although he conceded the allure for many people perusing the arts and crafts or antique booths is a quick, cheap snack.
San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Halina Kleinsmith could not be reached Wednesday, but former director Jim Sleznick said he believes the problem can be worked out by keeping the lines of communication open between city officials and merchants.
“San Juan tends to be known for its street fairs, but maybe we’ve bunched them up a little too tight to the desire of some of the businesses,” he said. “(Street fairs are) a way to bring people in and showcase your city. The hope is perhaps they’ll come back and take a little more time to feel the ambiance and enjoy the historical aspects of our town. But it’s going to work out. What we’ve done is open up dialogue. Maybe there’s a middle ground.”
Geiger hopes to bring the matter before the City Council next month.
“The No. 1 priority of city council members is to maintain the viability of our businesses,” he said.
The San Juan Bautista Arts and Wine street fair will be held Saturday from 10am to 5pm.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
