City Council addresses temporary craft shows in South Lake Tahoe

The South Lake Tahoe City Council once again addressed temporary craft shows on Tuesday, discussing many issues from displays, appearance, juries, and subjective verbiage including "quality," "nice" and "tidy," all of which were all part of the draft city ordinance they were reviewing.

Dealing with craft shows is nothing new for the council, having voted in 2013 to limit the number of shows in city limits to four per site with a maximum of eight per summer season.

Now they are addressing merchandise standards and operational standards. In the proposed ordinance there was a section dealing with juries, and that all crafts coming to the South Lake Tahoe shows would have to be approved months before the show. The council decided this section would create extra cost for vendors and the process wouldn't work for staff and crafters (artists would have to present their wares to the jury six months before the craft show season).

The SLT Planning Commission was directed to address the issues of craft shows and, after public meetings and research, sent their recommendation to the council for review and a vote.

There has been just one craft show vendor to apply to have the shows at various locations in the city. The vendor has a set of standards outlined in the current ordinance to follow, and, according to City Manager, Nancy Kerry, the ordinance isn't always followed. The current code has no enforcement mechanism built into it.

The new ordinance will contain language that will outline what all craft booths may, and may not have for sale, how their booths will look, and what they can sell.

Here are some highlights from the new ordinance:

Merchandise must be hand crafted/hand produced. The council had an issue with things for sale that could be purchased at any discount store that carries items from Asia. City Councilwoman JoAnn Conner said that if the craft show booths sell junk and nobody buys it, then they won't be back.

The ordinance calls for variety of items for sale.

The appearance of booths will fall under strict guidelines. It calls for a neat and tidy look to the craft shows and not to appear tacky to the area visitors. Not too many balloons and flags and a large list of other requirements.

"This is overkill and too much government," said Councilman Tom Davis who voted against the ordinance.

The first reading was waived, Tuesday was the second reading and the final vote will come on July 21, 2015.

Code Enforcement, if the ordinance passes, will be able to go out to the craft shows to ensure everyone is operating under the guidelines of the code. Should a crafter or artist not comply, they will be cited and may loose their right to return.