BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO POSTPONE ALL CITY-WIDE EVENTS UNTIL FALL
The Brenham City Council approved the postponement of all city-wide events until the fall at its meeting today.
The city’s postponement of the events adheres to the provisions of the executive order issued on June 26th by Governor Greg Abbott. The executive order declared that outdoor gatherings of 100 or more people must be approved by local governments, with certain exceptions.
The events affected include the 2020 Hot Nights Cool Tunes Concert Series, the July 19th Community Picnic, Movies in the Park, and the Summer Sip and Art Walk.
Councilmember Susan Cantey said it is the council’s job to keep citizens safe and felt that it was appropriate to postpone the events until Fall when it is more conducive to keep people healthy. Cantey also said that deferring the events is the sensible thing to do.
Councilmember Albert Wright said that it is better for citizens to wait to get back out there than to get out there too soon and end up in the cemetery.
The council revisited the matter regarding the Summer Sip and Art Walk Event after Main Street board member and Promotions Committee Chair Tom Whitehead sent an email mid-meeting with the details of the event asking that it not be grouped in with the other large gatherings in question.
Whitehead shared that there are only 288 glasses sold for the event, and there are 25 stores participating. He said if 288 people were to show up to the event, that would still only be 11 and a half people per business, and Main Street was going to have volunteers help monitor the number of people inside individual stores to ensure at no time is there a gathering of people.
According to Whitehead, Main Street has been selling glasses for three weeks now and has collected $3,250 in sponsorships. Whitehead said that a poll was taken with participating businesses a few weeks ago regarding the safety around COVID-19, and the businesses still wanted to participate. It was also shared that the small, downtown businesses in Brenham are hurting financially, and the Summer Sip and Art Walk event was going to be a big event for them.
Ultimately, after further discussion of the event, the council decided that it was important to remain consistent in their decisions, and emphasized that the event is not canceled, just postponed.
The new dates for the four events have not been announced and will remain unscheduled until there is less uncertainty around the future of COVID-19.
This looks like an area where city management can save tax payer’s money and stop blaming lack of funding on floods and the pandemic.
All but the Community Picnic are sponsor ship supported, so there is very little if any cost to the City. Main Street’s events actually make money for the City to be used for Downtown improvements and projects.
But if masks are 100% you can’t catch COVID-1984 if you wear one then why cancel it? Also if masks are the CURE for COVID-1984 why did they let criminals out of jail? Shoulda put a mask on them and left them there, but no….. we let them out on to prey on innocent people, but that’s ok right sheep? Outdoor concerts? Nope…..All you Sheep are WEAK!!!!
Well town you didn’t want to wear a mask? Well now you do
Follow up thought.
Council: Why not go on with HAVING the July 11 Concert and let the facts guide whether to cancel or not thereafter;
rather than making assumptions about it?
Oh no!
Hot Nights Cool Tunes!
Outside – Entire DT area to social distance – Masking Already Mandated –
Finally ! A Chance to Get Out ! Been cooped by decree with hope built up multiple times and then slammed shut again.
Really disappointed in City Council.
AND BEFORE YOU GET ALL OVER ME, I AM WELL INTO THE VULNERABLE AGE AND have other causes that create symptoms similar to the publicized ones. But don’t cancel the whole thing to keep me safe. If I feel threatened I’ll just stay away.
Also doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Could be a week by week thing. Two weeks ago July 1 looked like a good target date to get on with life.. Now in one fell swoop two plus months are cut off at once?
I agree. I was ready to suggest to council that they let the first concert happen on the 11th…with the warning that if rules about social distancing weren’t followed, then there would be no future concerts this summer. However I realized the issue had already been decided by City staff before the meeting, and I was wasting my breath. The meeting wasn’t even over before the City posted its cancellation on Facebook.
Err on the side of caution. Be safe to stay alive. Being in public places has been risky. Protect yourself. Protect and preserve our health and well being. Raise your personal and professional standards. Stay home