Clovis approves food festival, beer garden

CLOVIS — The third weekend of October will see more than a dozen food trucks crowd into Hillcrest Park for what organizers hope will include celebration, networking and, of course, eating.

Thanks to the Clovis City Commission’s approval, there will also be a beer garden.

Via a 5-1 vote, the commission allowed a variance for the Oct. 19 575 Foodie Fest that means Red Door can sell its beer in a fenced area of the park.

The company first established itself in the Mainline Bowl building in March, and has since purchased the Levine’s Building on Main Street for an outdoor taproom and operated a beer garden at the recent Under Over Art Festival at Hillcrest.

Festival organizer Jenni Hanson said word of mouth has largely taken care of promotion for the festival since she created the event on Facebook, and 200 people have indicated they plan to attend.

Hanson’s family is on its second assignment at Cannon Air Force Base, spending four years away from Clovis before returning.

“We fell in love with all of the food growth that’s taken place in your community,” Hanson said, “and we wanted to celebrate.”

Hanson said the beer garden was well-received at the art festival and wanted to have that featured in addition to 12 to 15 food trucks. Joining Hanson at the meeting was Dakota Herrera of Red Door, who would handle the beer garden and keep two security people at the beer garden entrance. The plan is to only sell Red Door’s product, but Herrera said wine made in New Mexico could also be served if requested.

Commissioner Gary Elliott, who has consistently voted against variances for alcohol in multiple meetings this year, was the lone dissenting vote.

“I just didn’t think it was necessary,” Elliott said following the meeting.

The festival is set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Hanson hoping people will have a fun time and possibly discover something they like from a food truck they don’t see on their normal commutes.

“I think this is a good thing to have for Clovis,” Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza said. “We had Octoberfest, but it was during the night. I feel like this is more limited (in hours). You have to be concerned, especially for the kiddos, but I think it’s a good thing to have.”

In other business at the Thursday meeting:

• Officials with Advanced Air thanked the city for its hospitality during its Thursday community visit.

The Hawthorne, California-based company intends to apply for the Essential Air Services contract for Clovis Municipal Airport on Sept. 25.

“I think our main message,” business aviation consultant Aaron Krieger said, “is we see a lot of economic opportunity to utilize the airport and start leveraging it for the benefit of the community.”

Ron Ober of the Phoenix-based Policy Development Group said he planned to send city officials a copy of its survey, which indicated 70 percent of Clovis residents who fly go to Amarillo or Lubbock to catch a flight.

“We flew into Lubbock this time commercially because we wanted to experience what the people of Clovis experience,” Ober said, “and hopefully that will change.”

Bids for the ESA contract are due Sept. 25 and public comment will be accepted through October before the city commission will make its recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Boutique Airlines has the contract now and is expected to re-apply.

• Commissioners approved $60,820 in lodgers tax disbursements,

No changes were made to the advisory board’s recommendations, which included funding for 12 requests. The events receiving the most included $12,820 for Clovis Community College’s Cultural Arts Series, $10,600 for the Christmas Lights Parade, $10,000 for Original Team roping and $7,500 for downtown fall-winter events.

• Clovis Civic Center Executive Director Misty Bertrand said the center has seen fewer events due to a combination of new private facilities coming to the city, some events (Clovis Home and Garden Show) outgrowing the center space and others (Milk Lovers Ball) on hold until further notice.

The center’s loss for the prior fiscal year was $340,000, which Bertrand said was disappointing but in line with the average annual loss for the center since it opened. The loss has been between $200,000 and $375,000 every year.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Sept. 19 at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library.