St. Johns County Commissioner Ann Taylor said that business during Nights of Lights has been sluggish so far and reiterated her call to extend the annual event into January.
“Businesses are reporting that numbers are down compared to where they expected to be at this time of year,” she said at Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. “Employees are very concerned about being able to pay their bills during this particularly slow time of year.”
Taylor, along with Tourism and Development Council chief Irving Kass and a chorus of downtown business owners, has urged St. Augustine officials to extend the event.
But the City Commission has thus far rejected these calls, stating that the current schedule was designed to address the concerns of a significant bloc of local residents who view Nights of Lights as an overwrought bane.
They’ve argued that the existing duration strikes a reasonable middle ground between crowd-weary residents and the concerns of merchants in a tourist-oriented town.
Taylor noted that attendance significantly drops in January, and that extending the event would provide a commercial boost without attracting the massive crowds typical of the event’s peak.
St. Augustine City Manager David Birchim previously noted that extending Nights of Lights would require renewed contracts with current service providers, which would add costs.
Taylor disagreed. “Most agree that the additional services needed during peak times like Thanksgiving and December would not be necessary in January because of the drop in attendees,” she said.
The commissioner added that she and others have requested a new meeting to discuss the matter.
Commissioner Jim Springfield told The Citizen this week that he does not foresee an extension unless there is clear evidence of a major commercial downturn.
“We made a promise,” he said, adding that reversing course would break trust with city residents.
Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline has also rejected calls for an extension. “I do not see that as going to happen,” she said at a meeting this month.
On a less contentious note, Taylor lauded a smoother running of the event thus far.
“Several of the changes that were made this year for Nights of Lights have significantly helped,” she said, noting additional restrooms, improved coordination with law enforcement and shuttle services.
