Palmetto commissioners debate making 4th celebration more family friendly
Palmetto Commissioner Tambra Varnadore has never been a fan of how the city markets the Fourth of July Festival as a family-friendly event and has been pushing for changes, consistently voting against allowing alcohol sales at the festival.
“The concerts are not geared toward family,” Varnadore said. “It’s been adults only concerts. There is no family involvement in the event. Basically you show up to the see the concert, get drinks and watch fireworks. I think we need to to have more events for the overall community with a focus on the children.”
This past Fourth of July Festival marked the sixth annual event that is sponsored by the Community Redevelopment Agency, with the cities of Palmetto and Bradenton splitting the costs of the fireworks. CRA Director Jeff Burton said that was the beauty of creating the festival because people can choose to watch the fireworks from either side of the river, but the festival draws the majority of the crowd into Palmetto.
“The mission is to bring people into the city to see how we are progressing and not necessarily the image that has been portrayed of the city in the past,” Burton said. “When we first started this, we didn’t have a lot to show, but it’s gotten better and better every year with the number of improvements we have made in the city.”
Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said a lot has changed and the overriding goal of the CRA is to continue to change the city’s image that once was, into today’s reality that Palmetto is a city on the move.
My first thought is to divide it and to do something more for the children during the day and then switching it from family during the evening.
Commissioner Tamara Cornwell
“One of the things I used to do was Google Palmetto and it was the same negative things that would come up,” she said. “We’ve come a long way since then in improving our corridors and having anchored businesses. All of the different events we’ve been holding bring a different image of what I used to find when Googling Palmetto.”
Varnadore said if the CRA was going to continue to invest more than $80,000 into a festival, “I want to balance it out and have more community outreach.”
There are lots of things for families to do during the day and then at night, you basically flip the switch.
Commissioner Brian Williams
Commissioner Tamara Cornwell suggested a compromise.
“My first thought is to divide it and to do something more for the children during the day and then switching it from family during the evening,” she said. “For example, we could say no alcohol sales until 5 p.m. I understand the festival is a win-win. It has brought many, many people into Palmetto that otherwise may not have necessarily come here. But maybe we could start adding family events a little earlier in the day.”
Commissioner Brian Williams agreed, noting that the CRA could redirect some of its investment into the festival by hiring only one headline band.
“The fair has been successful because it’s the same idea,” Williams said. “There are lots of things for families to do during the day and then at night, you basically flip the switch.”
Burton said he would look into ways of achieving those goals for next year’s festival.
Mark Young: 941-745-7041, @urbanmark2014
This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Palmetto commissioners debate making 4th celebration more family friendly."