Why Not Wednesday street fair takes over Downtown Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – The Why Not Wednesday street fair kicked off for the first time Wednesday, drawing hundreds of shoppers to Downtown Fresno.

At least 100 vendors sold food, clothes and jewelry.

The City worked for several months to organize the event on Fulton Street.

“It’s an exciting time with a mix of small business and community and culture all coming together as one,” Elliott Balch with the Downtown Fresno Partnership said.

While the event may sound similar to the long-standing Arthop street fair that has existed in the same location for years, Fresno City Councilman Miguel Arias says there is an important distinction: Why Not Wednesdays is sanctioned by the City.

He says Arthop attracted vendors who sometimes sold goods without business licenses, and there was no infrastructure to close roads or police the event.

“It’s more beneficial because, as parents who were sending their teens to enjoy the street fair bar hop, we can now give them complete assurances that we’re going to have dozens of police officers,” Arias said.

However, as the City asks, “Why Not Wednesdays”, some old Arthop vendors simply say, “Not Wednesdays.”

“We don’t believe the way the City implemented it the best for the people that it’s serving… It’s too expensive to shut down the street to pay for extra police, to pay for restrooms and to have it the way that they have it now for the city. It’s like they’re bending over backward to just open up the gates of opportunity for this one event,” former Arthop vendor Joseph Rodriguez said.

While some think the City should stay out of the street fair, Arias says any event that has the potential to attract thousands of people must have city involvement.

“We had experiences that we were attracting hundreds of out-of-town vendors that were not following basic rules and that we’re actually selling alcohol and cannabis to minors,” Arias said.

Why Not Wednesdays is every third Wednesday of the month from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The City hopes it takes off so they can expand it into a weekly event.

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