The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
A can of worms?
Quizno’s Pro Challenge organizers Aaron Huckstep and Richard Bond came to the Town Council March 7 to see if they could erect two 30-foot-tall banners promoting the event. The banners were sent by the race organizing committee to the various host towns.
“Under the rules, we know the banners can only go up a week before the event but we would like to put them up during busy times before the event to capture those people that might be interested in coming back,” said Huckstep. “We are looking at times like spring break, Fat Tire Bike Week, July Fourth, Ride the Rockies… We want to give people notice there is a great event coming and they should consider coming back.”
“Banners have been a headache in the past because of the competition for space, but this seems like a no-brainer,” said mayor Leah Williams.
“We have to consider the can of worms argument,” counseled acting town manager Bob Gillie. “Will the music festival then want to do the same thing and put up banners during spring break? If we do it, I think we’d need to craft some tight parameters. This may seem easy but it isn’t. Everyone and their brother may want to put up banners.”
“Let’s look at this issue sooner rather than later,” suggested councilperson Reed Betz. “Maybe it is at the discretion of the town manager or council.”
“I agree with Bob that it could open a can of worms,” said councilperson Jim Schmidt. “I’ve been working with this event for a while but I’d rather see them get a booth at the Fourth of July or Ride the Rockies. How do you give a banner permit to these guys and not someone else?”
“We have talked about the need for a tasteful marquee at someplace like the Four-way Stop to promote events. Maybe it is time to think about a permanent structure,” said Councilperson Phoebe Wilson.
“I think we can do it so it’s not a can of worms,” said councilperson Dan Escalante. “Maybe it’s approved for an event that has contributions from various entities across the county. Say, if it is a big event from all over the valley.”
Town clerk Eileen Hughes said she looked into banner regulations at other resorts in Colorado. “Typically, they all have banner regulations,” she said. “They address the timeframe they are allowed and usually the commercial aspect of logos on the banner. Most of the communities have a two-week timeframe. They are relatively strict about these things.”
“I think we should have the town manager revisit the topic and look into alternatives and we should talk about it as a council,” said councilperson John Wirsing.
Williams instructed the staff to begin looking into that can of worms.
