Business owners push for new committee on Summer Nights festival

A handful of downtown business owners supported a proposal Wednesday to create a new stakeholder committee that would vet options for the downtown's Summer Nights festival.

Fish Window Cleaning owner Steve Rolinger a past president of the Rapid City Downtown Association who helped form the event that started in 2008 proposed the idea to the city's Legal and Finance Committee on Wednesday when Summer Nights' event permit was considered.

"I'm trying to find some sort of consensus here because I think everybody thinks this is a good civic process. I mean, we have people from all over Rapid City come, so I think every agrees that, yes, this is a great thing," Rolinger said. "I think everybody agrees, too, that down there on Main Street they're losing money and same with St. Joe ... The night they lose that money, it's gone forever."

Council members Jerry Wright, Chad Lewis and Steve Laurenti didn't act on the proposed committee and voted to send the event's proposed permit to the Rapid City Council without a recommendation. Council members Bonny Petersen and Charity Doyle did not attend the meeting.

The entire council will review the permit on Tuesday during its regular meeting, which has been rescheduled due to the President's Day holiday on Monday.

Roger Brooks, a Washington state-based consultant who was hired to find the best location for Summer Nights, recommended Monday that the event be kept on Main Street.

It would be held west of the Sixth Street intersection and span midway through the 700 block of Main Street, requiring portions of Seventh and Sixth streets to be closed.

Laurenti asked Summer Nights Director Sandra Schwan how a multi-year event permit would benefit the event, whether she would support a new committee and if there was enough time before the event's scheduled start of June 5.

Schwan said Summer Nights, which are held on Thursday nights, currently has around $25,000 in committed funds on the line, which would have to be paid whether or not the festival is held. She said a longer event permit would be a more secure option in dealing with the contracts.

Schwan said she would be open to a new committee. She said, however, a similar committee had been formed in the past and its members eventually stopped attending meetings.

Go here to read the rest:
Business owners push for new committee on Summer Nights festival