Council approves fireworks, concerts
Both the CreekWalk Concert Series and annual 4th of July celebration will return to Andrews Park this summer, as the Vacaville City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to bring back both events — which were canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic — in a modified format to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
As Solano County remains firmly in the red tier, and with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of fully reopening the state by June 1, recreation supervisor Melody Ocampo presented options for both of the city-sponsored events. She said state guidelines for outdoor events include mandating preregistration, precluding same-day or at-the-gate ticket sales, providing marked assigned seating grouped by household, spacing each household 6 feet apart, not allowing attendees from out of the region if Solano reverts to the purple tier or from out of California if the county is in the red or yellow tier, requiring face coverings and discouraging the audience from yelling, singing or chanting.
Ocampo said the city hopes to host eight CreekWalk concerts on Fridays between July 9 and Aug. 27. The first option presented was to move the concerts to Lagoon Valley for a drivein concert with a maximum capacity of 344 cars. However, Ocampo cited various drawbacks to this plan, including impacts to regular park use, potential for construction on projects in the area, loss of consumers to downtown businesses and poor visibility of the stage, which Ocampo said could be mitigated with TV monitors.
The second option presented was holding the concerts at their traditional location at Andrews Park with 150 pods allowing for up to five people from one household per pod for a maximum total of 750 attendees. However, Ocampo said the events would still have to adhere to masking and social distancing guidelines.
“We would have to have clearly identified seating arrangements in place and, again, that preregistration,” she said.
Ocampo said the budget would be smaller due to two fewer concerts this season, and there would be less revenue because of an expected decrease in sponsorships and a current lack of clarity over which vendors could be allowed.
“We are looking at going from a typical $5,000 subsidy for these events to $10,000,” she said.
The third option was to cancel the concerts altogether for the year.
One option for the 4th of July event presented in the staff report considered moving the fireworks show to Al Patch Park, but Ocampo said this suggestion was nixed prior to the meeting due to the city having to obtain permission from the neighboring California Medical Facility.
“Just this morning, we found out that that is not an option (to host the fireworks show),” she said.
This left the council with two options: Cancel the 4th of July event or continue the
traditional festivities at Andrews Park with the same social distancing requirements as the CreekWalk events. Ocampo said the Parks and Recreation Commission expressed support for holding both events at Andrews Park with the recommended requirements.
Mayor Ron Rowlett supported holding both events at Andrews Park with the additional recommendation of foregoing the $3 entry fee from past CreekWalk concerts.
“I think this year we open it up, let people come in,” he said.
Vice Mayor Nolan Sullivan said he was supportive of the efforts but felt the options should be a little more vague to accommodate any changes in the state orders.
“July is a long way out,” he said. “There’s talks of all different sorts of things at public events, concerts. I’m very supportive of all the events. I think the options you gave us might be too specific, so I’m wondering
if we can vague it down a bit.”
Sullivan suggested staff have the flexibility to make adjustments depending on any changes to the orders or with the virus. Rowlett agreed.
“We don’t have that ball to see what (Newsom’s) gonna do or how anything’s gonna change from today to tomorrow,” he said. “We have to be able to not be rigid, be very flexible and we have to stay within the mandates from the state of
California.”
Councilman Roy Stockton said both events being held at Andrews Park would draw people to “businesses downtown that have suffered through COVID-19.”
“There’s some great spots there where you can still support a business, eat some food and see the fireworks from Main Street,” he said.
Stockton also suggested opening up some of the cityowned properties along East Main to allow for more spots to view the fireworks displays.
The suggestions did not stop there. Councilman Jason Roberts inquired about the possibility of working with Vacaville Unified School District about opening up the Tom Zunino Stadium at Vacaville High School to provide another place to view the fireworks.
“It would make more people want to come out and allow more spacing there,” he said.
Brooke Fox, executive director of Downtown Vacaville, said she appreciated the suggestions and was excited to have the events move forward.
“This will do great things for downtown Vacaville businesses,” she said. “I thank staff for really pursuing this angle which was not even possible as little as three weeks ago.”
Rowlett motioned to hold both events at Andrews Park with the recommended modifications and the elimination of the entrance charge for the CreekWalk events. This motion was supported by the rest of the council.
In other business, the council unanimously approved a budget amendment to provide $10,000 to fund this year’s Fiesta Days. The council also voted 4-2 to pause terminating the lease at 1040 Mason St., currently the base of The Father’s House’s “We Love Our City” administrative staff, while directing staff to work with the organization on a formalized plan by the May 11 council meeting, with Sullivan and Councilwoman Jeanette Wylie voting against.