§ 13.21.010 — Purpose

13.21.010 - Purpose.

It is the concern and interest of the City Council to protect the broad range of performance protected by the First Amendment while also vigilantly protecting and preserving the public health, safety and welfare of the City's residents, business owners and visitors during the Festival of Lights ("festival"), located on Main Street Riverside ("Pedestrian Mall") in Downtown Riverside and at the historic Mission Inn Hotel and Spa ("The Mission Inn"). The festival is a free, approximately six-week long holiday extravaganza featuring one of the nation's largest holiday light collections of its kind. The festival includes attractions, entertainment, activities and events, horse drawn carriages, and vendors who sell food and merchandise. Each year, the festival draws over 500,000 people from all over the world, with 75,000 attending the Switch-On Ceremony alone. Due to its popularity, the festival has continued to grow each year and with that has come a substantial increase in pedestrian traffic to an already confined stretch of the Pedestrian Mall. As part of the festival, the City recognizes that street performers desire to engage in expressive activities. With the continued popularity of the festival, there has recently been an increase in the number of performers. Cognizant that street performers are engaged in First and Fourteenth Amendment activities that can often enhance the visitor experience, this chapter sets forth appropriate street performer locations on peak days and hours as a reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions in a manner that balances their constitutional rights with the health, safety and welfare of the City's residents, business owners and visitors to the festival.

(Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)