Santa Fe Drive’s most big event of the year is in danger – Denvet

For about a decade, the city of Denver closed a section of Santa Fe Drive, which allows pedestrians to flood the street for a popular art walk on the first Friday in August.

But the city did not provide permission to close the road for this year’s event – creating a major care for galleries and businesses that depend on traffic on the first Friday.

“They pulled out the carpet from us,” says Andrea Barrel, CEO of Newsed, who has been running the Santa Fe business area for years.

But the city says changes to the event are needed for public safety.

“We want to continue to consider how we manage these events in order to guarantee safety and their success,” explained Nancy Kun, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, in an email.

Event organizers still have some time: they say they need the permission finalized by May, about three months before the event.

What went wrong with the first Friday?

The city has a history of events that have scratched the areas in which they have traditionally took place, she said. For example, Santa Fe Drive was closed to Cinco de Mayo, which no longer happens.

The first crowds of August Friday have outgrowed the section of Santa Fe, which the city has historically closed, Kun said. The city has been working with the offer it has been paying for the event for several months. Hope: negotiate ways to change how the first Friday works and to cope with safety challenges.

Member of the City Council, Jamie Torres, says some of the city concerns include the need for more duty police officers and assurances that sellers will be created in the right places.

Possible changes that the city offered: moving the first Friday on Saturdays or Sundays, moving the event from Santa Fe Drive and instead uses alleys, parking lots and side streets.

“We value this wonderful event and think that we can help the art area to continue in some form if we work together,” Kun said. “We are ready to be creative and plan to follow them to discuss the options.”

For the organizers, the first Friday should happen on Friday night – Santa Fe Drive.

Last year, the first Friday in August brought about 10,000 people to the tape, Barrel said.

The event has become a tradition in Denver.

Changing the day is not an option, Torres explained. Even if the event had been moved on Saturday or Sunday, people would still expect a free art walk on Friday night.

“They just get too many people there to open the street,” Torres said. “This is … the concern of everyone.”

How about his household in the alley? The business will not do it as it can reduce foot traffic from the event, Barrel said.

“They are pushing the story on the alley for years,” she said. “But no one in their right mind wants to hang in the stinking alley with overflowing garbage and needles everywhere.”

Torres says she works with the city, offer and art of Santa Fe in solutions. She wants to make a deal where the street can be closed and turn the city concerns.

Santa Fe is changing rapidly

With thousands of people who come to the neighborhood for the first Friday, the event is a major economic engine – the one who wants to keep.

The area of ​​the arts has observed major changes in recent years: more development, redesign of the road and rapid gentification.

The first Friday is an event that helps maintain long -standing galleries and businesses open throughout this.

“One major event here keeps this corridor alive,” Torres said.