Submitted By: Michelle Taylor
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Presentation By: Aubrey Hale
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Department: Growth Management
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FORMAL TITLE:
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Resolution 2027-4 to utilize the downtown event zone to allow alcoholic beverage sales (beer, wine, and liquor) as part of the 2026 Ocala Art Festival Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, 2026 (Quasi-Judicial)
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OCALA’S RELEVANT STRATEGIC GOALS:
Economic Hub, Quality of Place
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PROOF OF PUBLICATION:
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BACKGROUND:
The Ocala Art Festival is an annual event that will occur in the downtown event zone on Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, 2026. Fine Arts for Ocala, Inc. (FAFO), as the organizer of the event, is proposing that on-premise licensed vendors within the event zone be allowed to sell beer, wine, and liquor as part of the art festival on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, October 25, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The following vendors will be participating:
Bank Street Patio Bar
Big Hammock Brewery
Brick City Southern Kitchen & Whiskey Bar
District Bar & Kitchen
Tipsy Skipper
Mutiny Ocala
Ivy on the Square
Marion Theater
Baron’s Creek Vineyards
Downtown Billiards
Cantina Tex Mex
Marion Cultural Alliance
Black Sheep on Broadway
18 South Restaurant & Saloon
Mellow Mushroom
La Terazza
First Ave Bar & Bistro
O’Malley’s Alley
The following vendors will not be participating:
Hilton Garden Inn Ocala Downtown
Mark’s Prime Steakhouse
The Thirsty Cobbler
Mooyah Burgers
FAFO has provided a certificate of liability, attached to this agenda item, insuring the City of Ocala.
FAFO is working with the Ocala Police Department and other City departments regarding the event layout and process for selling beer, wine, and liquor during the event. A copy of the conditional permit is attached.
This will be the second event permitted to use the Downtown Event Zone, but the first to actually take place. City Council approved the first event, “Christmas in July,” submitted by ...
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