The Vandalia City Council has tabled a decision on a potential street closure for an August Pride event.
At Monday’s Vandalia City Council meeting, one of the items on the agenda was a resolution authorizing a road closure for the 2026 This-N-That Pride Event on August 22nd. The request made by Karen Becker was for Gallatin Street between 4th and 5th Streets to be closed from 10 am to 10 pm on that day. The Pride Event would be from 12 pm to 8 pm and this would allow 2 hours beforehand for set up and 2 hours after for tear down and clean up. This-N-That has held Pride Events the last few years on North 5th Street in front of their former location.
The Vandalia City Council started off with Alderman Ken Hubler making a motion to vote on the matter and Alderman Russ Stunkel seconding that motion. When discussion began, Hubler says he took issue with a specific activity that he says took place during last year’s Pride event.
And, Alderman Andy Lester indicated that he would be a “No” vote on the matter.
Alderman Bret Brosman said that he was concerned that they may not have checked with all of the businesses potentially affected on Gallatin Street.
And, Alderman Steve Barker stated he has received many messages from his constituents saying they were against the event.
Meanwhile, City Attorney Ryan Connor gave the City Council his opinion, telling them they had previously set a precedent on such events.
There was some discussion about potentially amending the time of the street closure until a bit later in the day. But, Hubler and Stunkel ultimately pulled back their motions and the City Council agreed to table the matter until they could get further information. It would be expected the matter would be on the agenda for the Vandalia City Council meeting on July 6th.
Comments