Hermosa Chamber surveys businesses, residents about keeping Labor Day Weekend Fiesta, or launching new event in the fall
by Kevin Cody Since 1972, when the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce took over the downtown Hermosa Arts and Crafts Fair, founded by the Colony Craftsmen, what is now known as Fiesta Hermosa has been a victim of its own success. Its downtown street closures annoy many residents. Its enormous crowds annoy downtown businesses, whose regular customers can’t find a place to park. But the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend fairs have also become a treasured tradition among artists and craftspersons, and the upwards of 100,000 attendees. The Fiestas also account for the majority of the chamber’s annual revenue. That fact has made talk of canceling the fiestas a ‘third rail’ in Hermosa politics, until last month. In October, the chamber itself raised the prospect of canceling the Labor Day weekend fiesta. An email to the chamber’s 460 members from Chamber President Jessica Accamando announced an October 20 Zoom meeting to discuss the fiestas. The subject line read, “Two fiestas or one?” In a subsequent email to members, she wrote, “The chamber is exploring options of an alternative, new fall event…. Since 2016, the Labor Day weekend fiesta has netted 50 percent less income than the…
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