Sarasota event organizers sort out COVID-19 strategies

Seven months after the spread of COVID-19 caused events throughout the country to shut down — including ones organized by his company, Paragon Festivals — Bill Kinney thinks the Sarasota area still isn’t equipped to safely return to holding large public gatherings.

“Quite frankly, we’re not ready to open here, and I don’t think we should open here yet,” he said.

That’s a position the city of Sarasota has echoed, as officials are declining to issue permits for special events through the end of March. But it’s not a universally shared perspective: This past weekend, the Siesta Fiesta art festival took place on Siesta Key. Last week, the organizers of Thunder by the Bay announced the event will be held in February at the Sarasota Fairgrounds. The weekly Sarasota Farmers Market resumed operations downtown in August.

The events that are still going on are adopting new safety protocols related to COVID-19 — spaced-out booths, hand-washing stations, strong encouragements to wear masks. For some organizers, there’s hope that outdoor events can be properly managed and offer individuals a relatively safe opportunity to actually get out of the house and into a communal setting.

“We’re kind of pioneers,” said Howard Alan, whose company organized the Siesta Fiesta. “We want to open up the market again with special events. People have been in their homes — they’ve got cabin fever.”

With statewide restrictions related to COVID-19 largely lifted, local stakeholders have mixed feelings on the best approach for managing events.

Playing it safe

Debbie Perez, the city’s auditoriums manager, said she’s largely heard understanding feedback from applicants when she tells them the city isn’t permitting events until at least April.

Merchants downtown and on St. Armands Circle have expressed some frustration about the limitations on events, which are held to generate activity and revenue for promotional efforts and other investments. Ron Soto, the chairman of the Sarasota Downtown Enrichment Association, said scrapping plans for events, such as the New Year’s Eve pineapple drop, affected the group’s ability to purchase decorations for the holiday season.

Perez said part of the impetus for the city’s policy is that applications must be in 90 days before the proposed date of the event. Because there’s no certainty about what local COVID-19 numbers will look like in three months, she said the city didn’t want to have event organizers move forward with plans only for the city to reverse course if the virus continues to pose a problem.

“It’s all about being unknown,” Perez said. “We don’t know what our numbers are going to be like. We don’t know how the community’s going to be impacted.”

Although Kinney doesn’t think Sarasota is ready for special events right now, he wants to make sure he’s prepared when the moment is right. He’s put together a 12-page document with guidelines for operating safely when the rate of positive tests falls below 5% for two consecutive weeks.

Among his recommendations: capping events at 50% capacity when positivity rates exceed 3%, fencing off events to manage ingress and egress, managing the flow of pedestrian traffic, posting signage and having dedicated staff at events focused on public safety. If everything is done properly, Kinney does believe events can adequately account for the risks associated with COVID-19. Although he wants to be cautious, he also thinks there are compelling reasons to try to find a way to start holding special events if at all possible.

“The economic impact of these events is in the tens of millions of dollars,” Kinney said.

Kinney repeatedly said he wasn’t second-guessing the city’s decision to cancel events for the first quarter of 2021, noting that Boca Raton had taken the same approach. Still, he expressed a desire to hold out for the possibility of improved local numbers, working together with event organizers, city officials, law enforcement, merchant groups and any other stakeholders.

“Maybe what we should have done is taken more time to evaluate what’s happening rather than completely lose the season,” Kinney said. “But we may not have a season. We don’t know.”

Proceed with caution

In the announcement for Thunder by the Bay 2021, organizer Suncoast Charities for Children makes clear the event will be different from previous iterations of the motorcycle festival.

Lucy Nicandri, the executive director of Suncoast Charities for Children, said that the group decided to move forward with the event after consulting with its sponsors. The people involved in those discussions noted that other events were being held as scheduled in the area. Nicandri consulted with event organizers to get insight on safety protocols and other strategies.

Ultimately, the group was comfortable with its ability to bring people together outdoors. Nicandri added that organizers were eager to find a way to help local nonprofits during a challenging time.

“We feel confident we can hold a good fundraising event for the charity but still provide safety,” Nicandri said.

Although the Sarasota Fairgrounds are within city limits, the city does not have permitting authority over events on private property. Nicandri said her group is well aware that COVID-19 conditions could trend any number of ways between now and February, and she said the precautions and plans for the event will evolve as necessary.

“We know it’s a fluid situation,” Nicandri said. “It changes weekly, if not daily.”

Alan said that this year’s Siesta Fiesta, usually held in April, went well even though it was an early test of his company’s new event procedures. He took many of the steps Kinney is recommending, including spacing out booths, posting signage and distributing masks to visitors as necessary. He said there’s still opportunities to refine operations, but he was encouraged by how things went.

Even more strongly than Kinney, Alan said he was holding out for the possibility the city would reverse its current policy and consider allowing special events in early 2021. He still isn’t ruling out the possibility that two cornerstone events for his company — the St. Armands Circle Art Festival in January and the Downtown Sarasota Festival of the Arts in February — can still be held in their traditional location. If necessary, he said, he’s already identified alternative sites. Despite the city’s stance, however, he’s not resigned to that fate.

“We’re hoping they change their mind,” Alan said. “We hope things improve.”