Chamber gets Fiesta Hermosa contract again, council expects improvements

Fiesta Hermosa attendees enjoy a performance by a Beatles cover band. File photo

Fiesta Hermosa will return on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends this year, but Hermosa Beach will be expecting tweaks to minimize its impact on locals and enhance the artistic resonance of the three-day events.

The City Council unanimously approved a contract Tuesday night that enables the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau to host the Fiestas in the coming year. The events provide the bulk of the Chamber’s annual operating revenue. In return, the business group puts on five civic events throughout the year, including the holiday tree lighting and St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The new contact is largely identical to those of years past but includes an addendum that the Chamber will exercise its “best efforts” to implement reforms identified by the city. And although the Chamber has operated under multi-year arrangements in the past, the agreement approved Tuesday night was for one year only.

The effect was to raise the stakes for the coming year’s events. Staff said they would monitor how the events went in considering more lengthy agreements for the future.

“It’s difficult to ask the council to commit to a three-year contract without evidence of the Chamber’s ability to commit to these improvements,” said Nico De Anda-Scaia, assistant to the City manager.

The agreement caps a contentious period for the Fiesta. Following last year’s Labor Day Fiesta, the city said it had received significant resident complaints about the event. Last November, the city hosted a town hall for residents to offer thoughts about the event’s future. While some described concern over the Fiesta’s commercial nature, others blanched at what they feared was an attempt to sanitize an iconic Hermosa event, including the rumor that the city would move the event or cancel one of the weekends.

Mayor pro tem Stacey Armato helmed a subcommittee on the issue with Mayor Jeff Duclos. Armato said that, over the past few months, she and Duclos held more than a dozen meetings with Fiesta “stakeholders,” including the Chamber, downtown businesses, and local artists. The result was a set recommendations that included greater emphasis on locally produced arts and crafts, and improved cleanliness in the Fiesta area.

Maureen Hunt, the Chamber’s interim president, said that the Chamber would work to implement the changes, but cautioned that some, like having fewer commercially oriented booths, would make the event less profitable. Hunt said the Chamber is already running at a slight deficit, and it could become difficult to continue putting on the other events for which it is responsible.

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