Riverside Municipal Code Ch. 13.21 Festival of Lights Regulations

It is the concern and interest of the City Council to protect the broad range of performance protected by the First Amendment while also vigilantly protecting and preserving the public health, safety and welfare of the City's residents, business owners and visitors during the Festival of Lights ("festival"), located on Main Street Riverside ("Pedestrian Mall") in Downtown Riverside and at the historic Mission Inn Hotel and Spa ("The Mission Inn").

The festival is a free, approximately six-week long holiday extravaganza featuring one of the nation's largest holiday light collections of its kind. The festival includes attractions, entertainment, activities and events, horse drawn carriages, and vendors who sell food and merchandise. Each year, the festival draws over 500,000 people from all over the world, with 75,000 attending the Switch-On Ceremony alone. Due to its popularity, the festival has continued to grow each year and with that has come a substantial increase in pedestrian traffic to an already confined stretch of the Pedestrian Mall.

As part of the festival, the City recognizes that street performers desire to engage in expressive activities. With the continued popularity of the festival, there has recently been an increase in the number of performers. Cognizant that street performers are engaged in First and Fourteenth Amendment activities that can often enhance the visitor experience, this chapter sets forth appropriate street performer locations on peak days and hours as a reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions in a manner that balances their constitutional rights with the health, safety and welfare of the City's residents, business owners and visitors to the festival.

(Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)

The City recognizes that Street Performers are afforded rights related to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. The City also recognizes that the current climate of the country is such that the general public is operating at a heighted state of alert in large crowds. The City desires to enhance the safety of the City's residents, businesses and visitors by implementing safe areas at the festival for Street Performers during the times when the festival experiences the largest crowds.

At the Switch on Ceremony and on High Traffic Days of the festival, the Pedestrian Mall is often extremely crowded with pedestrian traffic. It is crucial to the continued interest of the community for the City to safeguard this area with reasonable restrictions and regulations to ensure the health, safety and welfare of individuals during the festival.

The existence of Street Performers at the festival provides a public amenity that enhances the character of the festival and the City seeks to encourage such performances in a manner consistent with the public's overall safety. Street performers seek to and do draw large crowds to their performances. This can create serious safety problems by impacting the ability of individuals to move safely on sidewalks in high pedestrian traffic areas in that street performers attract large stationary crowds which have a tendency to block passageways and impede the path of travel. For example, on the Pedestrian Mall, street performers on highly attended Festival evenings, attract audiences that congest the area, and increase the likelihood for conflict and disorderliness.

The City's police and fire departments have made great efforts to provide access to the areas surrounding the Mission Inn and the Pedestrian Mall in an effort to ensure the public's safety at the festival. The ability to limit street performers on the days the festival experiences the largest crowds ultimately assists public safety personnel by allowing critical access to the streets surrounding the Mission Inn and the Pedestrian Mall.

Due to the unusually large crowds on this day, travel is inhibited not only for pedestrians, but also for public safety personnel needed to provide safety and emergency response. The Police Chief and Fire Chief have found that audiences attracted by street performers contribute to impeding the ability of emergency response personnel to respond to critical incidents.

During the festival, public safety personnel are patrolling the Pedestrian Mall on bicycles, ATV's, vehicles and by foot. At any given time, safety personnel need to have the ability to deploy all or a portion of their resources in case of an emergency or fire. Large crowds could potentially limit public safety's ability to mitigate an incident before it escalates.

The past presence of street performers on the days and nights when the largest crowds attend the festival has caused a hazard and danger to the residents, business owners and visitors to the festival. The mass congestion caused by the street performers and their audience impedes pedestrian traffic and ingress and egress from businesses and which could create an impedance to pedestrian traffic flow in cases of emergency which could, in turn, cause injury to persons and property.

Street performers and their equipment may impede the ingress and egress of emergency and public safety vehicles on the Pedestrian Mall by creating physical obstacles to emergency response and administration of aid to those in need of immediate medical attention and to victims of criminal activity. It is, therefore, necessary to ensure that street performers congregate in less congested areas than the pedestrian mall on high traffic days to avoid interference with emergency response vehicles that provide assistance to individuals with medical needs and victims of criminal activity. These designated areas, however, will be within the FOL Boundaries and located proximate to any prohibited area.

Established federal and state law allows municipalities to regulate the time, place, and manner of speech and other forms of expression where such regulations are narrowly tailored, content-neutral, and leave open ample alternative channels of communications for street performers desiring to display expressive activities in proximate performance areas where street performers may reasonably reach their intended audience.

The City desires to balance the freedom of speech and freedom of expression protections afforded by United States and state constitutions to those street performers desiring to engage in expressive activities at the festival that is intended to or has the effect of gathering large crowds and audiences with protected and significant governmental interests related to traffic and sidewalk congestion, pedestrian safety, aesthetics, the ability of emergency response personnel to reach locations, limiting access to and egress from business and residences, and other interests to ensure smooth pedestrian traffic flow, relieve congestion and overcrowding, limit disorderliness, and prevent potential interference with and visibility obstruction for motorists attempting to navigate through the streets within the FOL boundaries during the festival. It is the intention of the City to balance these regulations and governmental interests with the recognized rights to street performers to exercise their rights of free speech and expression to their intended audience.

The reasonable and content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions outlined herein that apply to certain conduct on the Pedestrian Mall will be effective, are narrowly tailored to address the governmental interests outlined herein, and constitute the least restrictive alternative for the purposes intended and set for herein.

The City acknowledges that street performers may intend to reach a particular audience during the festival and the City Council desires that such street performers be afforded an ample opportunity to engage in expressive activities during the festival to ensure that messages and performances can be conveyed to the street performers intended audience.

By enacting this ordinance, the express public policy and purpose of the City shall continue to be the protection and preservation of the public health, safety and welfare of the City's residents, business owners and visitors who attend the festival while still providing reasonable and meaningful alternate avenues, areas and access for street performers by allowing performances anywhere within the FOL boundaries, except on the days and times defined herein as high traffic days.

The City therefore finds, that in order to ensure the safety of the residents, businesses and visitors to the festival, it is necessary to prohibit street performers from performing on the Pedestrian Mall on high traffic days.

(Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)

For purposes of this chapter, the following words or phrases shall have the meaning given herein:

Expressive activities means conduct, the sole or principal object of which is the expression, dissemination, or communication by verbal, visual, literary, or auditory means of opinion, views, expression or ideas that are likely to be understood as such in the surrounding circumstances.

Festival boundaries means the area beginning at the intersection of Third Street and Market Street, continuing along Market Street to Sixth Street, along Sixth Street to Fairmount Boulevard, along Fairmount Boulevard to Mission Inn Avenue, along Mission Inn Avenue to Market Street, Market Street to Tenth Street, including White Park at Market and Ninth Streets, along Tenth Street to Orange Street, along Orange Street to University Avenue, along University Avenue to Lime Street, along Lime Street to Sixth Street, along Sixth Street to Orange Street, along Orange Street to Third Street, and along Third Street back to Market Street.

Festival of lights means the special event that coincides with the winter holiday season in the public areas in downtown Riverside and at the historic Mission Inn Hotel and Spa.

High-traffic days means Thursday through Sunday after 5:00 p.m.

Pedestrian Mall means the pedestrian mall known as "Main Street Riverside" as set forth in Chapter 13.20 of this Code.

Perform means the expressive activities of acting, singing, playing musical instruments, pantomime, mime, magic, dancing, juggling, artistry or the creation of visual art and wares, including but not limited to drawings or paintings applied to paper, cardboard, canvas, cloth or to other similar medium when such art is applied to the medium through the use of brush, pastel, crayon, pencil, spray or other similar object and the creation, display and/or sale of crafts made by hand or otherwise.

Street performers means individuals who perform in a public area or areas for the purpose of providing public entertainment or whose performance otherwise has the effect of drawing a crowd or audience. Street performers does not include participants as set forth in Section 13.21.050 of this Code.

Solicitation has the meaning ascribed to it in Section 5.08.050 of this Code.

Switch on Ceremony means the first day of the Festival of Lights.

(Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)

A. Based on the purpose and findings outlined above, the City Council declares that street performers may perform at the Festival on any public pedestrian area within the Festival Boundaries except as set forth below:

1. Switch-On Ceremony.

2. High Traffic Days: The Pedestrian Mall and the area surrounding The Mission Inn as follows: all sidewalks and right-of-ways on Mission Inn Avenue from the Pedestrian Mall to Orange Street, all sidewalks and right-of-ways on Orange Street from Mission Inn Avenue to Sixth Street, and all sidewalks and right-of-ways on Sixth Street from Orange Street to the Pedestrian Mall.

B. Additional regulations.

1. A street performer and the performer's equipment may not block or obstruct the free and safe movement of pedestrians. If a sufficient crowd gathers to observe a performer such that the passage of the public through a public area is blocked or obstructed, a police, fire or code enforcement official may disperse that portion of the crowd that is blocking or obstructing the passage of the public. If a street performer cannot conduct a performance in a location without blocking or obstructing the passage of the public, a police, fire or code enforcement official may cause the performer to leave the location or require that the street performer relocate his or her equipment, but shall not prevent the performer from occupying another location in compliance with this chapter.

2. A street performer shall not charge for a performance. Money given for a Performance shall be on a donation only basis. A street performer may not charge a set fee for the performance or use aggressive measures for the solicitation of donations. Solicitation at any time by a street performer within the FOL boundaries is strictly prohibited. For purposes of this subsection, aggressive measures shall include: blocking or impeding the passage of the solicitee intentionally; touching the solicitee with the intent to intimidate or coerce; following the solicitee, going behind, ahead or alongside of him or her with the intent to intimidate or coerce; threatening the solicitee, by word or gesture, with physical harm; or abusing the solicitee with words which are offensive and inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.

3. A street performer shall not use any firearm, knife, sword, torch, flame, explosive, smoke emitting device, axe, saw, replica of any of the aforementioned items, or other object that can cause serious bodily injury to any person or damage to property.

4. A street performer shall stay with his or her instruments, props, equipment, merchandise, or other items at all times that these items are on a public sidewalk, public street, or public right-of-way and shall be able to reasonably transport and remove all at once within three minutes.

5. A street performer shall not use, move or remove City property or festival decoration as a prop, equipment, stage, or as part of any performance.

6. A street performer shall not use any audible siren, alarm, or other alert as part of their performance or for the purpose of drawing attention.

7. Comply with Chapter 13.30 of this Code.

(Ord. 7491 § 3, 2019; Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)

Street performers who desire to use any of the stages within the Pedestrian Mall may do so upon prior approval from the City, based upon availability. The selection process will not discriminate based on the viewpoints or opinions of the street performers.

(Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)

A violation of any provision of this chapter shall be deemed a misdemeanor and shall be punishable in accordance with the provisions of Section 1.01.110 of this Code.

(Ord. 7394 § 2, 2017)