The city did not receive any permit requests from vendors hoping
to sell biker-related merchandise over the July 4 weekend before
this week’s deadline, City Manager Clint Quilter confirmed today.
It means downtown Hollister likely won’t get the same level of
activity as in 2006, the first time city officials canceled the
sanctioned event after a prior nine-year run.
HOLLISTER
The city did not receive any permit requests from vendors hoping to sell biker-related merchandise over the July 4 weekend before this week’s deadline, City Manager Clint Quilter confirmed today.
Quilter in a meeting with the Free Lance Editorial Board noted how there were no permits pulled for vendors over the July weekend when thousands of bikers traditionally have gathered in Hollister.
It means downtown Hollister likely won’t get the same level of activity as in 2006, the first time city officials canceled the sanctioned event after a prior nine-year run. That year, leaders estimated about 10,000 visitors showed up. This year’s non-sanctioned festivities will follow the previous two years in which a private promoter organized the event with the city’s blessing.
The council canceled the officially sanctioned event after losing more than $200,000 – part of it in a T-shirt deal that left the city with thousands of retail items unsold.
City officials had anticipated vendor requests this year and established a June 2 deadline. At a council meeting in April, Quilter told members about plans to use the city’s common review practice for requested set-ups over July 4 weekend and establish the deadline to ensure officials are prepared for whomever might come.
Quilter did not have a precise number available of vendors who came in 2006, but he noted how there were vendors set up at Seventh and San Benito streets, at Jessie’s, and at South and San Benito streets that year.
Quilter attributed the lack of interest to the poor economy and an event being held the same weekend at Laguna Seca. He said it will “not necessarily” affect police enforcement strategies that weekend.
“I don’t think it will affect the overall strategy,” he said. “It might affect deployment.”
