This time we'll call the order of the July 13, 2026 meeting of the City of Clearwater Downtown Development Board.

This time move to item 2.1 on the agenda approval of the minutes.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes for the DDB meeting of June 1st, 2026?

Say so moved.

Say so moved.

Yes.

So moved.

Second.

Thank you.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Unanimous.

Moved item three on the agenda citizens to be heard regarding items not on the agenda.

Are there any citizens here today that desire to be heard on a downtown development report issue that is not on today's agenda?

Hearing saying that, move to item 4.1 on the agenda.

Adopt a tentative millage rate of 0.9700 mills for fiscal year 2026-2027 and set public hearing dates or set hearing dates on the millage and budget for September 15, 2026 and September 21, 2026 at 515 p.m.

Good afternoon, Ann Lopez, CRA Assistant Director.

This item is to approve a tentative millage rate of 0.9700 mills for fiscal year 2627 and to set the required public hearing of the millage and budget for Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, and Monday, September 21st, 2026, both starting at 5 15 p.m.

As part of the truth and millage or trim process, the downtown development board is required to adopt a tentative millage rate and establish public hearing dates before the budget can be finalized.

This information will must be submitted to Pinellas County property appraiser and tax collector's office by July 28, 2026, and will appear in the trim notices that will be mailed to property owners in August.

The recommended tentative millage rate of 0.9700 mills is the same rate as the current fiscal year.

While this rate remains unchanged, it is a 0.65% above the rolled back rate of 0.9637 mills.

The rolled back rate is the rate that would generate the same property tax revenue as last year, including revenue from new construction and other changes in the tax base.

Hearing seeing none, is there any board discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Motion to approve item 4.1.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

Thank you.

Agenda item 4.2 approve the May 2026 financial statement for filing.

Good afternoon, Chair, members of the board, Brian Olbrick, CRA coordinator for the record.

The May 2026 financial statement is presented for filing during the month of May.

Expenditures total 35,467 dollars.

Today, total expenditures and transfers are approximately 894,991 dollars.

The total balance across the budget is 1,177, 705 dollars.

Any remaining balances have been reallocated to the unallocated special events grants line to support future downtown development board programming.

Staff recommends approval of the May 2026 financial statement for filing.

I'm happy to take any questions.

Move to approve agenda item 4.2.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

Thank you.

Agenda item 4.3 approve a new logo and branding message for downtown Clearwater from RB Oppenheim Associates.

Presentation of DDB Marketing and Public Relations Initiative Deliverables and Implementation Strategy.

Good afternoon.

Hey, Susan Ano, CRI executive director.

I want to introduce to you, Mr.

Michael Wynne with RBOA.

He'll give you the presentation.

Floor is yours, sir.

Sir.

Good afternoon.

Hello, Chair and members of the board, Michael Wynne, president and CEO of RBOA, Digitally Driven Marketing.

Thank you for your time today.

I'm here to present the final downtown Clearwater logo, iconography and messaging platform for official board approval.

Today represents the culmination of months of research, stakeholder interviews, public input, and board feedback.

Throughout this process, two strategic ideas constantly rose to the top.

First, downtown Clearwater needs a destination brand, something people can connect with emotionally, not something that feels like another government program.

Second, our messaging framework, Find It in Downtown Clearwater captures the opportunity to reshape perceptions rather than telling people what downtown is, it invites them to discover what they've been missing.

Today's presentation demonstrates how the visual identity and the messaging strategy now work together as a cohesive system.

The logo is truly one of the hallmarks of our design work and is the strength in its simplicity and modern design.

Successful destination brands don't try to explain everything in a single logo.

Instead, they become recognizable over time through consistent use and memorable experiences.

The logo represents downtown as a whole.

Every campaign, event, restaurant, concert, festival, park, or business becomes another opportunity to answer the question what will people find in downtown Clearwater today.

The logo becomes the signature while the messaging creates the curiosity.

Our icon system is where messaging strategy and visual identity truly come together.

Throughout previous presentations, we've introduced Find It in Downtown Clearwater as the messaging framework because it reflects how people actually experience downtown.

You don't come downtown for one thing, you come to discover.

Find your flavor, find your rhythm, find your style, find where the city meets the sound.

Those become repeatable campaigns that can all reinforce the same destination brand while highlighting different experiences.

Throughout social media, this is where the strategy really begins to kick in.

Rather than creating one-off graphics for every event, the find it framework gives us an endless content platform.

So instead of saying concert this Friday, we're saying find your rhythm.

Instead of restaurant week, we're saying find your flavor.

Instead of art walk, we're saying find your inspiration.

Every campaign builds the downtown Clearwater brand while giving people another reason to explore over time.

We hope that people will begin to associate downtown with discovery rather than just another place on the map.

And as we continue, you'll see that great food and incredible music continue to reinforce one of the overarching themes that truly came through in our interviews and feedback with so many of you, because music emerged as of one of downtown's clearest differentiators during our research.

Rather than simply publishing entertainment listings, this framework allows us to tell a larger story.

Every concert becomes another opportunity to find your rhythm.

Every performance reinforces downtown as an active destination rather than an event venue.

And weekly events, one of the biggest perception challenges we uncovered was that many people simply don't realize how much is going on downtown.

That's exactly why find it works.

Instead of debating with perceptions, it acknowledges that there is always something new to discover.

Every weekly calendar becomes another invitation.

Not just here's what's happening, but find what's happening this week.

That subtle shift changes the entire tone of the communication.

And of course, merchandise.

Destination brands succeed when people want to wear them.

The same applies to the messaging.

A shirt that says downtown Clearwater is nice.

A shirt that says find your rhythm or find your flavor creates personality.

It becomes something that people identify with and talk about.

As we've provided several signage examples, I love the color.

You can imagine this on some of the downtown shops to be recognized because this philosophy extends into the physical environment as well.

Rather than simply directing people where to go, signage can reinforce discovery throughout downtown.

You'll notice throughout these examples that find it, the find it messaging becomes part of the experience.

It encourages exploration, it creates memorable moments, and it reinforces downtown's personality every step of the way.

The messaging and the visual identity are intentionally working together.

The downtown development board recognition was really another part of one of our goals throughout the project to be able to clearly distinguish between the destination and the organization that is supporting it.

The downtown development board is the champion of this effort.

The public-facing brand is downtown Clearwater.

This allows the destination to build recognition while appropriately recognizing the DDB as the organization making that investment possible.

And then, of course, the city partnership.

The same philosophy applies to the city.

The city provides the infrastructure, services, and leadership that make downtown successful.

The downtown Clearwater brand exists to invite people here.

Those two roles complement each other beautifully.

One governs, one inspires.

In closing, I'd like to return to the two strategic ideas that have guided this project since the very beginning.

The first is that downtown Clearwater deserves a destination brand, one that people recognize because of the experiences they've had, not because it's attached to a government agency.

The second is that Find It in Downtown Clearwater is more than a tagline, it is a long-term messaging platform that encourages curiosity, discovery, and repeat visits.

The logo provides consistency, the icon system provides flexibility, and the find it messaging provides the invitation.

Together they create a comprehensive and complete destination branding system that can grow for years to come, adapt to new experiences, support local businesses and events, and most importantly, change perceptions of downtown Clearwater.

Because in the end, we don't just want people to recognize a logo, we want them to think.

Are there any questions or comments from the board?

I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise in the many times we've spoken.

But most importantly, like you said many times, they're versatile, easily integrated into any initiative, campaign, or event.

But it also consistently showcases our brand while being versatile, which is very unique, and I think is going to serve us for many years.

Also, um, one of the things I really like is our role, the DDB, our role, because I don't feel that we should just be an entity that funds other people's initiatives in um revitalizing downtown.

This is us actively being part of it.

So just want to be on record on that.

Okay.

You know, like I said to you before, um, we had talked about doing branding five years ago, and it just my opinion wasn't the time.

I mean, we were, you know, I was right around the time of COVID's just starting, and I mean the restaurants there wasn't a lot of activity going on downtown.

That wasn't the time to do the branding.

It is time now because things are starting to pop.

Right.

Um we got a lot of activity downtown.

I like this logo.

I liked it from the beginning.

I think it's good put the way you have it put with the different uh things you can do and find it in downtown Clearwater is it's a good tagline because a lot of people, like you say, they they don't know what's down here.

Uh they've got to come down and they've got to look for themselves.

And um, so I'm it's a good thing.

I'm glad we're doing it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mr.

Wynn, thank you.

Uh thank you.

What an enjoyable process this has been.

I commend you and your team.

Um not just for your talent and skills and what you delivered today, but your uh willingness to listen uh through the whole process and not just listen, but actually hear our feedback uh and then take action moving forward, and that's what has brought us to this process today.

Uh a beautiful logo that's classy with movement that represents downtown, a tagline that's flexible and works.

Uh, I think as we're uh growing downtown district, uh we're gonna grow with that tagline, and it's able to grow with us.

I think that's awesome.

Uh reshaping perceptions downtown.

We talked a lot about that in our multiple times of discussing.

Uh and do you organically wait and kind of sit on the sidelines and hope it happens, or or do you do you roll up the sleeves and get to work and be a take action and do it, and that's what this board is doing and what this program's doing is physically moving forward ourselves and investing in that future.

Um quick question for you, and you can help me understand the thinking on the icons.

I know we discussed a couple times about family-friendly events or how to identify those, and I didn't see those.

What were what were some of the thoughts from the team on how to identify those?

Well, I think the most important thing was we wanted a structure and an icon set that we were able to easily recognize, especially with the work that we did with Parks and Rec, along with some of the other departments, and we felt like the core of the icons that we had designed lent itself to those things.

It wasn't intentionally left out, it just didn't quite make it up to the level that the icons that we selected that they represented.

But I think again, as we said in our presentation, the icons give you a system to be able to accompany the logo design, right?

Whereas what if we had put those four logos in the logo design, then we're locked.

Yeah, right.

Right.

So having an iconography that's designed in the style of the logo does give you that flexibility, especially if even more family-friendly environments and venues and programming come alongside.

I think that would be an important component that we could develop.

Yeah, uh because I, you know, when I think about the duck or Sharka Palooza, right, and then I look and I'm like, well, food and drink, no, entertainment, maybe shopping.

Probably, but I have a hard time trying to figure where that fits to illustrate uh what that event might be for for a family.

But I think you guys and your team did a great job.

Thank you.

You know, obviously I'm a dad with three daughters, I have three grandchildren, so family and young people mean a lot.

At the end of the day, I think the economic impact of young adults coming to this area is really a priority, and I think the icons that we selected represent those interests.

Um, but like I said, we could extend that into those younger families when that opportunity arises.

Appreciate all the word, thank you.

You bet you better council advice, Mayor Cotton.

Yes, thank you, sir.

I'll just keep it short and sweet.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, team at RBOA for everything they've done.

You know, it says a lot when uh this board hires a company, and you know, you present the first set of two different um unique ways forward for you know icons and graphics, and then you come back and meet with us and you say, you know what, we went back and we listened, and here's what we came for to make this decision better and stronger.

So again, short and sweet, thank you very much for for where we've gotten to now.

Appreciate you.

Just a second, everybody.

Thank you very much for your work.

Um, I do like the logo very much as uh as we talk, then I think I think it's gonna do really um good for us, branding wise, and um I do see how this will be a recognizable um everywhere.

So thank you very much.

Fantastic.

Thank you for your feedback.

Okay, I guess.

Mr.

Wynn, thank you.

I really appreciate the hard work in the course of four months.

We've been communicating about the logo back and forth, and you took the uh everyone's feedback very well.

I do like this logo personally, even as a business uh having a business being a business owner in downtown Clearwater.

I do not think it reflects our downtown here, in my opinion.

Um but um I can understand why everyone went for this logo and how it can be implemented into flyers and all of that.

Um just wanted to point out I mean this it is a great logo.

It's just my personal opinion.

Yeah, thank you for your feedback.

Uh all way in just to say uh, you know, one of the things that I shared and you just shared was important to the others was uh the music that be involved, but that's not all we're already having success with, and I want to uh piggyb a little bit on what Council member Albert and said is things are already happening, you know.

And um, you know, we get sometimes we get involved in issues wherever people think well, Clearwater still needs to do a Hail Mary Pass to save downtown folks.

You know, we are already having success.

Coaching Park has been a huge success.

Um music there and music in the Bay Care Sound.

Um it's already drawing and building on that success.

And we have successful restaurants already downstairs.

Some of the favorite uh restaurants and of all the folks who live in Clearwater are already in downtown or are thriving.

So building on that success, I think Councilman Raw Britton said that's that's important here.

Uh, to tell tell the world we don't want success, we're already having success.

And we're just trying to build on that, and there's more coming with uh to the buildings under construction on the bluff.

They they have some interesting ideas to bring even more great restaurants to downtown to uh and music to uh to provide opportunities for folks.

So uh I like it.

Um again, we're building on success we're already having, and uh thank you for your work in doing that.

Thank you.

Okay, so with that, is there a motion to approve?

Move to approve agenda item 4.3.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, unanimous.

Thank you.

Thank you, board.

That will move to item 4.4 on the agenda.

Approve a high impact grant funding request from MIA International to produce the Mega Asian Food and Music Festival on the water at Coach Room's Park on August 21 to 23, 2026, an amount not to exceed 30,000.

Good afternoon, Vicky Shire, CRE Division Manager.

This item before you is a request from the MIA International for high impact funding request to produce the Mega Asian Food and Music Festival on the water, scheduled for August 21st through August 23rd, 2026 at Coachman Park.

The event is free, three-day culture festival featuring Asian food vendors, live entertainment, cultural performances, art craft food vendors, family activities, water land and water lantern experiences, kite flying and other interactive activities.

Show you what he'd like to do.

The applicant estimates attendance of 20,000 visitors over the three-day event and has past experience producing similar large-scale events throughout Tampa Bay region.

The total estimated event budget is 129,070.

The applicant projects approximately 40,000 dollars in vendor fees, and is contributing 49,000 towards event expenses.

The applicant is requesting $80,000, 70 in DDB funding.

Staff reviewed the application and it meets the eligibility requirements for the high impact funding request.

Although the applicant is requesting $80,070, staff is recommending the approval and amount not to exceed $30,000.

At this time, I'd like to invite the representatives from MIA International to come forward and answer any questions the board may have.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and City Council.

My name is Chris Lee with Mega Knight Market.

Started uh with the Mega Knight Market uh a few years ago, and we started at a small community center in Loman.

Uh work with the city of St.

Pete to help them with uh honoring Asian American Pacific Islander um festival uh two years ago, and we also do did that this year also.

Uh we partners with Hard Rock.

We just did an event with them yesterday, which was a successful event.

We did one also for Lunar New Year, uh, which we had about 10,000 people show up.

Uh we also partners with the city of Tampa, which we'll be doing an event with them this weekend.

Um the last event for mid-autumn festival Moon Festival uh of September 2026, oh sorry, 2025.

Uh, we did over 30,000 people that came out to our event.

So we're looking to partner with the uh downtown Claywater to bring the same amount of people down here and showcase our rich culture and great people that we have in our team.

Thank you.

Okay.

Councilmember Albrecht.

Well, I see that uh the amount uh is not to exceed 30, and you were asking for 80, so the 50.

Um are you gonna be able to raise that with sponsors, or are you gonna have to cut your some of the show back, the expenses of the show?

Uh we looking to uh for some sponsors.

Uh we're looking into it.

We've been marketing online.

Uh we have a big present on the social media, uh, but we're looking for uh additional funding to uh showcase and bring more artists here so we could bring tons of people down here to downtown Claywater.

Good.

That's what I was hoping you'd say.

Instead of cutting it back and you know, not having such a great looking uh uh uh international show.

Um I think it's possible to go ahead and get uh you know sponsor funding.

So good luck with that and uh look forward to uh seeing this.

Thank you.

Councilmember, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for coming in today.

Um best of luck this weekend down in Tampa with your event.

Quick question for you regarding uh performers.

Um it looks like you're spending about 26,000 on performance uh uh performers accommodations and travel.

Um who are you bringing in and what that seems like a large expense?

Yes, we have a lot of different um all-star YouTubers like folk map and big time YouTubers that bring a lot of people uh to the events, uh different food influencers, artists throughout the United States that we bring out, which cost a lot, but they bring a lot of people because they have a lot of following.

So a lot of the people that we bring are the artists or uh influencers, they have over a million, up to 500,000 followers on Facebook, and throughout TikTok, they have probably two million.

So that brings a lot of people because people want to come see them.

Um so that's why we spend that, and that brings a lot of people to our event.

That's our little bit, that's our formula that we use.

Plus with the social media that we put together.

Uh we we go hard on the Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and we work with all you know, local partners, um press, you know, they release press on the news channels and other um websites to uh showcase our uh night market.

So we do a lot of great all-star singers that we have.

We have line dance, dragon dance, uh, Asian American Pacific Islander dances, uh, Lawish and Dance, uh we had uh you know all kind of different dances um that just showcase our uh culture and bring people down to any event that we go to.

And we went to Long Island uh last month.

Um we tried it out there so just to see we could do the same turnout and in the two days we did about 15,000 people that showed up in Long Island, tons of people, and we only did one one month to month and a half of marketing, and they did really well.

And we also put the marketing into this uh uh water lantern festival uh already here uh locally.

We were gonna run out, we're running ads on it right now, and it's doing pretty well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

Councilmember to share it out.

So um I'm very pleased actually for several reasons.

First, you do or you have developed over the years a strong reputation for having successful community events.

I'm also very pleased that this is a three-day event.

Um it opens up a lot of opportunities for people to discover downtown.

Specifically, um the fact that it's um an Asian community event, showcasing the culture, I think is an important addition because we have had a long or have a long-lasting relationship as a sister city with Nagano in Japan.

So I think it would be a good way to at least showcase part of it, right?

Uh I know we have a lot of um Latino events, and so I would love to include the Asian community as well.

And the fact that it's three days also allows me to think that I'm willing to fund a little bit more.

It's three days is uh is a big endeavor.

It's a big ask.

Yes, it is.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Um my only concern I do I do like the whole plan.

I do like the Asian uh national festival.

I think it's great.

I do want to ask you about the food itself.

How is it gonna work?

Who are you bringing in?

How many what what who are the vendors?

Okay, so a lot of the uh Chiang Mai right down the street, they're also gonna come out.

We I just left their uh restaurant a few a few minutes ago.

So we're gonna be uh bringing them in other vendors here locally.

We're gonna try to bring them out to support downtown Clearwater.

Uh but we have it's just not Asian food.

It's a diverse, so we have all kind of foods.

It's international.

International.

So it's majority start as Asian, but you know, we we're trying to have diverse food in there.

So we have all kind of food.

Uh but you know, we're changing and making it more uh, you know, international, but we started as an Asian night market.

So the food's really good.

Uh home cooked food, just like you know, back in Thailand or Laos or something like that where you see it on YouTube, we we're gonna have it out here, and tons of people come out, especially going to a new area.

Anywhere that we go that's in a new city, it tons of people come out from all over.

And we market just throughout the United States and in Florida and locally too.

Very well.

Yeah.

Yeah, my only concern was it's a three-day event.

Yes, falling on a weekend.

And I really don't want to take business from downtown vendors for the whole weekend.

And I wanna I the one of the questions I had if you did talk to Chiang May, or if you um already in communication with any other vendors, and if there is a way that you can include um or work out with the local vendors to include them in the festivals of the other sir.

So I actually sent out an email to all the vendors or the the restaurants locally here to come participate actually free at our event.

Only uh Chiang Mai has responded.

Um still waiting for a response from everybody else, because we do realize that it it could impact the restaurants negatively, but it also could bring them business if it's hot out.

People may also decide, you know what, I just want to go inside a restaurant.

Um but we have invited them just waiting response back from them, and we are offering them free ride.

You might want to talk to him.

Okay, all right.

Thank you very much.

Who remembered to late you?

Yeah, thank you.

I did receive you, Mike.

Okay.

I appreciate that.

Um we're considering it, but you you'll probably hear back from us whether it's one way or another.

Uh, my question uh to you, um, since being a three-day event, what are your objective um revenue generating uh main revenue generating uh aspects here besides the alcohol sales?

I mean, are you um I know that you you offer to downtown uh vendors, restaurant owners or restaurants uh free uh admission or to be part of the event?

Um the numbers that I see there are one to ninety-four.

How many vendors are you expecting to be there?

Well, we're projecting to have 40 to 50, but it just depends on how many people are gonna sit up.

So we're running multiple ads right now.

Um so we we should know more, you know, moving in the next couple weeks.

But we always get the you know, late birds that come in late.

But we put it on the I believe it was Largo Claywater Facebook page, and a lot of people are excited about the event.

Um it'll be the first time ever having uh water lanterns here, uh, which they call it in Laos and Thai Loikotong, where you just put out the lanterns and write on there and make your wish.

So that it's gonna be a very, very good event uh because I don't think any other city can do City of Tampa can't do it because of the restrictions that they have there with the waterway and uh City of Tampa can't do it also due to the same concern.

So here uh we kind of we could contain it, put the nets up and protect it, and it's all biodegradable, and we'll make sure that we clean everything up after we're finished.

And what do you what are you going to charge for each vendor to be to be able to attend the it's gonna be between $800 for the vendors and then urgent dice?

What is that, sir?

Around $600.

$600 for the merchandise, yes.

Thank you.

And are you planning on having uh donation boxes around the area as well, which is very common in big cities as well.

If it's a free entry, um you you'll get a lot of people joining in and doing donations.

These are really we'll try it out.

It's it it works.

I mean, in Chicago, any event you go to, there are street events, they're open.

Tens of thousands of people go there, everyone drops in five dollars.

You have 20,000 people that that creates a lot of, you know, brings a lot of say we already made your money.

We will note that down and make sure that we do that.

That'll be all thank you.

Thank you.

Everything?

Okay.

Um I do have a couple questions.

Um is you you said you run the summer event on Long Island.

Is that yes, Long Island New York, yes.

But uh here locally, the only one you you haven't done any like this locally, except you have one this weekend in Tampa, Curtis and Park.

I yes, we have done them locally.

We've done them with the city of St.

Pete uh in St.

Pete love last year with the mayor's office.

I was the lead person that was in charge of that.

Um so we've ran the it's called Happy Festival.

If you look it up online, it's meaning uh means honor Asian American Pacific Islander Islanders, and I worked with the city council on uh well the city staff on that to make that happen for the city of St.

Pete.

We've done them uh at the England Brothers Park.

We've done them at Win Wind Derby on Gandhi, which was a very successful rent.

That whole parking lot.

I don't know if you know the derby lane there.

Well, now the wind derby.

We packed that entire parking lot from the front all the way to the to the to the Gany.

Uh our first event for Labor Day weekend.

So we're looking to do the same thing here.

Hopefully, we have enough parking uh because we will bring a lot of people here just because it's a trend right now with the the night markets, a lot of people are just traveling just to come to these events, and we have great entertainment, great singers, I mean really good singers.

Uh you know, we had some opera last night, we had some regular music last night, Vietnamese uh at the Hard Rock, um, and it was incredible.

Um, so I think that'll showcase our rich culture here and bring a lot of people out, and which I think we're wanting a lot of people to come down to downtown Clearwater.

I grew up uh in Clearwater Beach.

My mother owned a uh store on South Beach when I was eight years old.

So it was you know booming back in the day, so we would love to help make that happen again here in downtown Clearwater.

Um I don't want to sound like we're shark tanking it, but we kind of borrow it as well because this is the taxpayers, the citizens' money that we're contributing.

So uh, you know, we we just want to make sure that we're not uh funding the business idea and that you're at risk too on this because it's it's not fair to the taxpayers for them to bear the ultimate risk of supporting the event.

Uh so these other events you talked about locally, yes.

Were they three-day events, or is this this a new thing?

All the events are three days eventually, every event that we're known for three-day events, uh, just because we started as a small mini market at the Lowman uh in Baudelama Center called the Lao Art Culture Center.

Uh and we started there and uh we got so big we had to the city uh made us get all the permits, so we had to move the event.

So we moved the vent to downtown St.

Pete called the St.

Pete Distillery, and uh the first event we did 5,000 people.

Then we're like, oh well, we did good on that day.

Why don't we start doing more days?

So we just started three days from there and we never went back.

So it's always been a three event.

So we're known for three-day events uh because a lot of people are working on Friday to come on Saturday.

A lot of people uh come on Saturday, but they have people that want to go out on family days, Sunday Funday on Sunday, and they come out and enjoy our events.

Um so we we're known for the three-day events, yes.

Yes, there's a go-to.

I'm told I've been heard about that for years now.

So yeah.

Well, you'll get to see that right and see.

Okay, well, that's all I had.

Uh anybody else got any questions, comments?

If not, is there a motion?

Motion to prove agenda item 4.4.

Second.

All those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

We look forward to you.

Thanks so much.

Agenda item 4.5.

Cleveland Street Mobile Vending Program Update.

Good afternoon again.

Um, Vicky Shire.

Since the last update, staff has continued working with several city departments to refine the program and address their feedback.

One of the changes we made is simplifying the program's name.

Cleveland Street Mobile Vending Program.

We're also working to align permitting process with the city's existing special event process where appropriate.

The goal is to make the process easier for vendors while creating a more efficient review process for city staff.

Right now, staff is working through the operational details, including vendor spacing and identifying potential locations along the foreign final block of Cleveland Street.

This work will help us ensure the program operates safely and works well with nearby businesses and pedestrian traffic.

We also launched a call from all the vendors to date.

24 vendors have expressed interest.

Once the remaining operational details have been completed, staff will bring the program updates back to the board for finally finalization.

At this time, we're anticipating about a September 1st, 2026 launch date.

Thank you.

Any questions from the board?

No.

Council Merbert Ticha.

I know you're still working on it, but like my mind is buzzing with questions, right?

How many vendors?

Where are they going to be?

What's the lease look like?

Um, how many park lists?

What's that going to look like?

Um, so I'm looking forward to hearing all those answers, and this is something that we've been working on for a long time, so it's exciting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Right, thank you.

Move to item 5.1.

Event recap for Cinco de Mayo Taco Fest 2026.

Good afternoon.

Marilyn Brown, CRA specialist.

The item before you today is an event recap presentation for the third annual 2026 UNIMEX Cinco de Mayo Taco Fest, held on May 3rd, 2026 from 2 to 4.

Unimex anticipated approximately 2,000 attendees for the event.

However, attendance exceeded expectations.

According to Placer AI data, the event attracted an estimated 4,100 attendees.

Unimax is here to provide you an event recap.

Hi everybody, Eric Gascamilla with Unimex, and I'm filling in for Elmer Pio Quinto, which turned in all the data to Vicky, so I don't have exact numbers.

I just have rough estimates and ideas and here to answer any questions.

And I would just want to say we had a great turnout.

I did not leave this event this year, like I did the previous times, so I was a little skeptical that it would be better, but it actually came out better, and um, and it was really great to see more and more people attend than previous years.

I don't know if anything else I can share.

I didn't bring anything, I just have no question.

Yeah, nice mayor.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

That's awesome.

It's always good to get uh data back that exceeded expectation.

So I can tell you that probably everybody's gonna echo that same sentiment.

So great job, and we look forward to working with you on the next one.

Thank you.

You know, I attended, right?

Yes.

I had a blast.

I got a lot of um a lot of a lot of good good memories.

It was exciting.

I knew it was it was getting better.

I knew it was more successful than the last one, but I'm actually was shocked it was 4100 uh, you know, when you're expected 2,000.

That was great.

Um, even your food trucks, I think, to add more variety, even your merchandise, and it only got better as a night progressed.

By the time it was nighttime, it was just like all out.

So um, congratulations.

It is an event that I'm hoping becomes like a yearly thing, if not more.

Really good.

Thank you.

We had a collaboration with Telemundo, and um, that really helped a lot, you know, boost the event, and um, it was really nice seeing their whole staff there and you know promoting the PIFA event, and yes, so that was really nice too.

So yeah, that was my feeling to having attended Telemundo really drove out uh bigger attendance.

So I think it's a less and all if you can get television stations at the back of the room, but uh, if we can get a television partner to promote it, and then it really does help attendance, and they certainly have things played a big role in driving attendance this year.

Yes, thank you so much for the opportunity.

We're very grateful for uh the help for that.

Um, and we hope that this becomes something regular because it started as an idea because we saw a lot of taco fest near you know in other cities, and they weren't doing any here, especially not by the Mexican community and us having such a large Mexican community.

I thought it was very important to to try to do it for Clearwater.

Okay, very good.

Thank you.

All right, thank you so much.

Go to agenda item 5.2, DDB first Friday lunchtime market report.

Good afternoon again.

Vicki Shire, CR Division Manager.

Today I'd like to provide a recap of the first Friday lunchtime market, which took place from October 2025 through April 2026.

I'll briefly share program results, we've what we've learned throughout the series and staff's recommendation moving forward.

The idea behind the program was simple.

We wanted to create a reason for people to come to downtown during the weekday lunch hour.

The market combined with local vendors, live music, and a welcoming atmosphere on the 400 block of Cleveland Street.

It created a unique lunchtime experience.

From the beginning, we focused on three objectives.

Increase weekday foot traffic, so support local activity, and expand community engagement.

Looking back over the seven month series, we're very pleased with the results.

Across seven events, we welcomed 1,207 visitors, averaging about 172 visitors, attendees.

Attendance remained consistent throughout the series with October and April seeing the highest participation.

The busiest time was consistently around noon, showing we successfully reached the lunchtime audience we were hoping to attract.

In addition to the strong attendance, we also received positive feedback throughout the series.

The market encouraged people to spend time in downtown, explore the area, and enjoy the atmosphere that was created each month.

The combination of vendors, live music, and community activity helped make the lunch hour feel more vibrant and welcoming.

Another highlight is return on investment.

The total program budget was $7,423 and two cents.

The investment supports seven successful events, welcome more than 1,200 visitors, create a weekday activation, and provided opportunities for local vendors to showcase their businesses.

We exceeded our goal of having at least 10 vendors at every event.

We had more.

We love the energy and the atmosphere here.

We really enjoy all the other vendors, especially Jason Momoa.

We've been coming to the first Friday lunchtime market from the beginning in October.

And what we love about it is getting to connect with more neighbors and local businesses.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um excuse me.

Board comment, questions.

I just want to say thank you.

I think it was absolutely incredible.

It been to the market at least five times every time we went.

Seemed happy people.

Great feedback from local merchants.

And I generally had a lot of fun.

It was great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The staff team worked very hard.

It was a group team effort on that one.

I want to say thank you as well.

I think it throughout the the weeks and seven times.

I mean, it was it was just great.

And that's exactly what I personally have imagined.

You know, when you have the markets and you bring on more people, we have vendors, they talk about it, and then they come back.

Um with that being said, I do have one question.

And it doesn't have to be you know the exact number, but in what was the the percentage-wise were returning vendors?

Oh, it was more than half.

More than half.

I mean, they we had to find additional spacing and be very creative because we had returning vendors, and then when the new ones heard about it, we wanted them to come, of course, too.

So we had to get very creative as a staff team and find spaces with still being safe and within guidelines of the city.

Yeah, that's that's awesome.

That's I think that also shows that they enjoy their willing to join as well.

Um promoting uh the market over to the residences as well, maybe just you know, flyers or any type of uh marketing strategy in that aspect.

We we did, but we're looking if we do this again, and it's not something that we definitely will be doing again, but if we do do it again, I I know my marketing team has some new ideas that they'd like to try to do with hitting the residents more um and getting more outside of just the Clearwater area, but expanding into Dunning and Safety Harbor too because they they would like to come down to Clearwater too and visit us as well.

Absolutely.

There is there is nothing at that time, nothing going on.

So I think that's a great idea.

Uh I also have bad news for you.

The musician James left, so you might want to look for a new one.

It's okay.

I'm sorry to hear about that.

I hope it was for a good thing.

Yeah, but no, thank you so much, Vicky.

I think this was great, and I would like to see it again.

Thank you.

I'm trying not to cry here.

The team, like I said, it was a team effort, and just thank you for the good feedback.

Um, it was a lot of fun, it was a lot of hard work.

I know what we were trying to do, and we just hope that the merchants, you know, were successful, and we we did get community down here, and you did you did you saw the community and it was great, and it's just a piece of what we can potentially see in the future stuff for the city of Clearwater.

So thank you.

Yeah, I think from my and just the timing, you know.

I I don't know what you learn, you know, or what we've learned just you know, summer months are tough.

It's a tough time, so I think you know the program we had before was centered on those months when not during the heat of the summer like today.

So uh I think that it's great and appreciate the team's efforts and making it successful.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, uh thank you.

We'll move to item 6.1 director's report for July 2026.

Again, good afternoon, Jesus Nino, CRA executive director and DDB director.

Uh first I would do want to thank Mr.

Michael Wynn with RBOA.

Still here.

Thank you for sticking around.

Uh, I do want to say that he represents other communities and organizations, and I'm sure their budgets that they provide him are way bigger.

But he is a CEO of this company, and I've been impressed that he's been attending every single meeting.

He's been having his most senior staff attend our meetings, and I'm sure they probably have already exceeded our budget, but they're doing a great job, thank you, and we're impressed.

So, as far as find it in downtown Clearwater, we've embraced that.

And just to kind of quote the mayor, more is coming, so we're happy.

Just to give you a little bit of update, you know, we're trying to be very good partners with the city, so we did fund some banners along the 400 all the way to the 700 block just for the America 250.

I won't go into this too much, but we're also very excited for the call for mobile vendors, and we're hoping to go ahead and put that team together and start evaluating those submissions like Vicky mentioned, 24.

I'm sure some of them may not qualify, but I'm sure some of them will.

And as far as the DDB funding, fifty thousand dollars of that.

And we're very proud of that event.

We were hoping to have some photos of the event here for you today, maybe at the next month, unless we have a very big agenda.

But it was very exciting just to see the art that was out there.

This took place on July the second on the 400 block of Cleveland Street.

I'm not sure if Kevin would like to say anything about that when I'm conclude the presentation.

I think that concludes most of the presentation, but I did have one item on here.

Exit out of here.

So here it is for the public.

So anyone who's interested, hopefully, you can attend.

With that, I'm open for questions.

Okay.

Councilman Mutisha.

Just a quick question.

I'm I'm I'm not sure if you're gonna have the answer, but do we is it too early to know what the attendance was for the Symphony by the C as well as the 400 um shock heart event?

We may have that data.

We'll just get it back to the entire body here.

The presentation that's online has it included.

We did not upload that one for you today, so for both of those events, we did include the placer IADA.

We just didn't upload the right presentation for this afternoon.

Anything else from the director?

If not, thank you.

Any board members be heard today?

If not, we will adjourn the July thirteenth, twenty twenty-six meeting of the City of Clearwater Downtown Development Board.

And we'll recess for a few moments while we switch out some nameplates before we begin the CRA meeting.