Is the Sarasota Pumpkin Festival too big for Payne Park?

With Halloween approaching, City Commissioner Susan Chapman found herself haunted by a demon from her past.

On Oct. 20, Chapman sent an email to city administration regarding the Sarasota Pumpkin Festival scheduled for Payne Park that weekend. The specter of damaged parkland as a result of the event troubled Chapman, particularly because she had raised that same issue a year earlier.

In 2014, Chapman led a City Commission discussion in the wake of that year’s Pumpkin Festival. She, along with other commissioners and residents, noted damage to the turf at the park caused by the animal attractions and carnival rides. The board directed staff to place a moratorium on large-scale events in city parks and bring back an amendment to the city’s special events ordinance that would prohibit similar offerings.

That topic has not since come up as a specific item on a City Commission agenda — which is why Chapman was particularly upset to hear new reports of damage caused by the Pumpkin Festival this year.

She ended her message with one question: How, exactly, did this occur?

According to Debbie Perez, the city’s auditoriums general manager, there was never a formal moratorium on the carnival-style events. Following the commission’s discussion in 2014, the subject was forwarded to the city’s Parks, Recreation and Environmental Protection Board. In March, the advisory group unanimously agreed that it did not support any effort to end large-scale events in city parks.

“The PREP board said, ‘No — that’s what parks are for,’” Perez said of the response to the proposed moratorium.

As a result, the topic did come up at a May City Commission meeting — as part of a larger report by the PREP board summarizing its March meeting. One question was asked about events, but the discussion largely focused on other subjects. Chapman offered corrections for two spelling errors in the PREP board meeting minutes but did not initiate any conversation regarding special events.

Eventually, City Attorney Robert Fournier asked the commission directly about the special events ordinance his office was drafting.

“My question is: Do you want to just wait on the carnival-type events and leave that out for now, or do you want us to include that in the ordinance?” Fournier said.

The question left the door open for future consideration of a large-scale park events ban. Still, the commission offered its consensus that the special ordinance could move forward without a restriction on carnival-style events. As a result, staff began to issue permits for carnival-style events again.

Chapman said she hasn’t yet gotten a chance to inspect the park following last weekend’s three-day Pumpkin Festival. She said the city has raised its special events fees with the intention of providing more supervision during those events, but she’s uncertain of what exactly that might entail.

“I haven’t checked to see if they were supervising adequately,” Chapman said.

On Tuesday, staff inspected the site grounds to assess the wear and tear caused by the event. Before that, Perez acknowledged there would likely be worn-down patches in shaded segments of the event grounds, but money from the organizer’s security deposit — which was $5,000 in 2014 — would pay for any repairs.

“Where the ponies were, where they walked around, there’s going to be a little trench,” Perez said. “We’ll seed whatever it takes, and he’ll be charged accordingly.”