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COVID pandemic: When will Venice allow special events again?

Assistant City Manager Len Bramble said Thursday that McGowan and other merchants may only have to wait until June 19-20, when the city hopes to host the Howard Alan-produced 28th annual Downtown Venice Craft Festival.  “We are keenly interested in how we might be able to carefully open things up slowly and methodically back up,” Bramble said, adding that the city has been chatting with representatives of Howard Alan Events about an appropriate COVID-19 social distancing plan. “We’re going to be discussing that with them early next week.”  After that, Bramble said the city hopes to be able to permit a July 4 fireworks display, then the Venice MainStreet-sponsored Venice Beach Party and the Women’s Sertoma-sponsored Sun Fiesta and the Chalk Festival at the Venice Municipal Airport Fairgrounds. 

Commission revenue weathers COVID crisis

Despite the economic impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency overall, its effect on advertising and promotion tax revenues has been bearable. According to the December report from Advertising and Promotion Commission treasurer Joe Wessell presented during the commission’s January meeting at the Paragould Community Center, the commission retains $159,367.91 for grants to promote the city. “As bad as 2020 was,” said at-large commissioner Kimberly Dale, “it was survivable.” Dale chaired the meeting in the absence of chairman Jeremy Biggs. According to Wessell’s report, the commission received $124,977.60 for 2020, an average of $10,414.80 a month. The revenue was in line with Biggs’ initial 2018 planning projections of $10,000 a month, despite the commission’s decision at its April 1 meeting to suspend collection of the tax for April, May and June of 2020 due to anticipated fall-off in hotel occupancy as the result of the COVID-19 restri

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