Fiesta Hermosa, the biannual, three-day arts and entertainment street fair, will be getting a makeover this year, the Hermosa Beach City Council decided on Tuesday night.
Fiesta, a fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce, has been held on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends since 1972, and is the city’s signature event. The city’s contract with Bell Events Services, which organizes the fair, expired after Labor Day last year and presented the council with an opportunity to make some changes, including more local vendors and an amended contract.
“The Fiesta in its current form likely has a two to four year lifespan because of development plans in the city,” said Kimberlee MacMullen, president of the chamber. “We are aware of that. The chamber is self-funded at this time and Fiesta has become our largest source of revenue.”
MacMullen said that the two festivals bring in about $880,000 per year to the chamber. About half of that goes to the expense of hosting the event.
“But Fiesta has become the identity of the chamber and I do not think that should be our identity,” she said. “We are in our own state of rebranding and reorganizing.”
“Fiesta needs to be revamped,” Mayor Pete Tucker said. “People want to get back to that hometown feel and make it about the residents again. We should encourage locals to participate, maybe giving them a discount for booths.”
“With a large event in any city, you can’t satisfy everyone,” said former Hermosa resident George Barks. “But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks…And that beer garden is really a life saver for our non-profits. I like the direction the chamber is going now. They really want to work with the city, The Fiesta has branded the city. And it’s only six days a year.”
Councilwoman Nanette Barragan voiced the most concerns about Fiesta in its current form.
“You keep saying you are self-funded,” Barragan said to MacMullen. “You are being self-funded at the cost of our city streets. It’s like a corporate subsidy. I would be in favor of cutting it down by a day or moving it to a non-holiday. And if we are using our city streets and having our residents impacted…I feel like some of that money comes back to us.”
Councilwoman Caroyn Petty disagreed.
“If somebody doesn’t like it, they can figure out a way to raise $200,000,” she said. “And even more, the Hermosa Beach charities raises so much money [with the beer garden]. It’s going to be changing anyway. Lot A is not going to be the way it is today. The chamber needs three years of reasonable revenue to figure out your game plan. I support the three years.”
Councilman Hany Fangary spoke in support of Fiesta but cautioned that a long contact might be disrupted by the hotel development plans near Pier Plaza.
“We don’t want to be in a position to hold off on development because the chamber has a contract for three days out of the year,” he said.
Mayor Tucker agreed that a three-year contract with wiggle room for the hotel plans was a reasonable solution.
“We should aim for a three year contract with a clause in there for relocation,” he said. “We don’t want Fiesta to go away. It’s an icon, like the Lighthouse and Comedy and Magic Club.”
The council moved unanimously to direct staff to come back in two weeks with a three year contract proposal reflecting the community and council’s feedback and relocation clause. The contract will be voted on at the January 27 city council meeting.
