ARANSAS PASS, TX — Salsa Fest is expected to draw hundreds of people to downtown Aransas Pass. The fest will block Commercial Street, which raises an issue with several local businesses.
"They blocked us out and roped every business in downtown from the event,” Rialto Theater owner, LuAna Martin said.
That's what Martin said happened during last year’s Salsa Fest.
"People could not see our business from the street,” Martin said.
Martin, who owns the Rialto Theater downtown, told KRIS 6 News that because the street was blocked off, so were the local businesses.
The City of Aransas Pass told Martin that it's set up that way because of the rules and regulations from selling hard alcohol.
"It's a problem because as business owners we pay taxes. The event itself is a wonderful event and we're here to support the event but we need the businesses to be supported as well,” Martin said.
On the festival map of Salsa Fest, it shows that people can walk up and down Commercial Street with alcohol but anything past the red line is not allowed. That's according to event organizers, Donald Nesloney and Amanda Snyder.
"We have permission to use the state highway for the event. The sidewalk has been left open and we have to provide a general area where we're allowed to serve alcohol and we can't have people walking in and out of the event with alcohol,” Nesloney said. “There's only one person allowed to sell alcohol during an event and that's the law.”
Snyder said they do support local businesses and want to bring more people downtown.
"We get a lot of support from the community to put this on. Like Donald said, these sidewalks are open and there's access throughout the event to everyone,” Snyder said.
The second annual Salsa Fest will be going on all day Saturday and Sunday, with bands playing throughout the day. So grab your dancing shoes and prepare for a spicy time in downtown Aransas Pass!
