By Susan Motander
Raw Inspirations Inc. has been granted an exclusive franchise agreement to operate the Monrovia Friday Night Street Fair.
The new managers will begin running the festival on August 19 of this year and the contract provides for them to do so until June 2021.
As occurred on May 17, when the issue of entering into negotiations with the new manager came before the council, members of the current vendors at the current fair, rose to voice their concerns. Speaker after speaker implied that Raw Inspiration would not run “a good fair.”
Many of the speakers implied that the company would bring in the “wrong” sort of vendors and would push out established vendors.
John Edwards, president of Raw Inspirations, quietly spoke to the charges leveled against his company. He also answered several questions put to him by council members. In one amusing exchange, Council Member Becky Shevlin asked Edwards if he would have a “Free Speech” area at the festival, to which he replied, “I’m from London, we have Speakers Corner every Sunday; I’m all for it.”
