It looks like the Traverse City bayfront is already booked to capacity for major events in 2014.
In addition to the cherry festival and film festival, the two other major bayfront events for 2014 will likely be Taste of Traverse City on June 7th, and a a joint event has reserved the space for August. Porterhouse Productions plans the Traverse City Music Festival partnered with the Traverse City Waterman Challenge once again this August. Permits have not yet been issued, but the events have dates reserved with the city.
A year after the city limited the number of major festivals on the downtown waterfront, this week the city commission voted to limit them even further. Besides the National Cherry Festival and the Traverse City Film Festival, the city will only approve two other major summer events, one in June and the other in August.
Mayor Michael Estes says the new limits are “modest.”
“I would take this as somewhat a compromise to satisfy, principally, what are the voters of Travers City who are the ones who elect us to make those decisions,” he says.
City residents and business owners have been divided over the issue. While some want quiet, others see limiting festivals in a tourist town as “anti-business.”
“This does not preclude the vast majority of events we have going on in town,” Estes says.
The mayor says the policy does not limit events in other city parks, nor does it regulate most events that do not serve alcohol, even if held at the waterfront.