City Council unanimously approved allowing city staff to move forward with Houston-based Your Neighborhood Farmers Market Association, or YNFMA, to begin formalizing contracts and aspects for a festival in October.
The gist
Many of the festival's details remain up in the air and will have to be worked out in the coming months by city staff and YNFMA. However, council members at the May 19 meeting had several questions about the time of the festival and other costs.
City documents show Manvel can afford to pay $150,000 for the event, which will come out of the city’s hotel occupancy tax fund. While still early, some of what the event could offer includes:
- A beer and wine garden
- Food and artisan vendors
- Live music
- Family activities
What they said
Council members ultimately agreed on the current framework that calls for the event to be held during the day and keeping it as a family-friendly gathering. However, some council members initially were not in favor of that.
Council member David Lands, who helped spearhead the initiative, said the aim was to have it be a sort of music festival and therefore have it be later in the day, such as from 2-8 p.m. He said an event ending before 7 p.m. was a “nonstarter.”
“I don’t want us to lose focus of the music fest, the evening entertainment for the adults,” Lands said. “That is a totally different venue from one shutting down at 5 p.m.”
However, having it later at night would bring more logistical challenges and potentially add $75,000 to the total bill, a representative from YNFMA said. This is due to the need for increased security, lighting and other factors.
Others, such as council members Keith Bonner and Harry Opliger, said they felt this first festival would be a learning experience. Opliger specifically said he viewed the city needing to take “baby steps” with the event.
“I just think we’re mixing apples and oranges if you’re trying to mix family fun and alcohol,” he said. “It’s two different groups of people.”
Despite this, officials said the event could evolve further in the coming months.
Next steps
The proposal from YNFMA shows next steps include securing the contract and submitting initial deposits. Other objectives include:
- Launching applications for vendors, food trucks and music performers
- Beginning a marketing campaign for the event
- Coordinating with security, police and emergency services
- Gathering festival licenses, contracts and permits
