The La Salle County Health Department received a complaint against the city of Ottawa.
The complainant asked Dec. 1, with 113 new COVID-19 cases that day and 53 cases the day before in La Salle County, “How in good conscience is the health department allowing the [Chris] Kringle market in Ottawa to go forth?”
The answer: The state gave the OK for the event run by Floret Events to continue under certain guidelines.
In its inquiry, the health department collected emails and documents from Ottawa officials and state agencies, including the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, planning the six-day event across two weekends.
In an email from Alyson Grady, central region manager of regional economic development for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Grady spelled out the rules: The market can only allow 25% capacity of outdoor space; everyone is required to wear a mask unless they are eating or drinking; only grab-and-go food and drink sales are allowed (meaning no common area for tables); vendor booths should be at least 30 feet apart; the operator has to manage the entry/exit points to manage the capacity; and there are no indoor visits with Santa, who had his own set of rules if he wanted to make an appearance.
“The city of Ottawa and its partner Floret Events will be following all recommended protocols to have a safe event,” Mayor Dan Aussem wrote in response to the La Salle County Health Department’s inquiry. “We will have staff at each entrance and egress points with counters to track the number of people in and out. We will have police officers patrolling along with event staff in order to monitor social distancing and wearing of masks.”
Aussem said that Christmas programs were canceled for the event, tables were removed and a trolley bus was nixed.
The week of the Chris Kringle Market’s first weekend, the organizer announced the event was expanded to three locations in order to space out vendors and control crowds.
In email exchanges, Dusanka Marijan, licensing administrator at the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, requested the city’s fire department calculate the 25% capacities for the areas being used. Marijan said the event needed a partitioned perimeter with access points of people entering (and exiting) to keep track of the count.
Fire Chief Andy Borkowski met with City Engineer Tom Duttlinger and explained in a letter to the mayor the Chris Kringle Market would be divided into three areas: the Jordan block with 58,535 square feet and a capacity of 2,090 (25% of the maximum occupancy); Court Street with 23,682 square feet and a capacity of 845; and Washington Square with 121,600 square feet and a capacity of 4,342.
After a busy market this past weekend, Aussem told The Times on Wednesday that the city saw maybe a quarter of those capacities at any given time. He said he saw visitors complying with the rules, noting that a line for the Didoughs pretzel vendor had visitors standing 6 feet from each other. Signs were placed in the event area reminding people to wear masks and social distance, and announcements were made every half hour on the event’s speakers.
He said police reported no issues.
“I think it went well,” Aussem said. “I’ve received no negative feedback. I’ve heard compliments about how wonderful it was and how nice the weather was.”
Aussem said he’s reached out to the Ottawa Downtown Merchants Association, the La Salle County Health Department and the state’s liquor commission, but he hasn’t heard back any comments.
“I think it turned out immensely well for local businesses downtown,” Aussem said. “They had very good sales come in over the weekend.”
When asked what made the Chris Kringle Market different than other Ottawa events – many of them smaller in scale – that had been canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, Aussem said it had a lot to do with the market being led by Floret, a private company.
The city decided to hand off the management of Oktoberfest, Brewfest and Winefest to the private company, and each of those events was canceled because of the pandemic.
This time around, Floret decided to reach out to the state and see what the rules would need to be for them to host it.
As the process moved forward, the company worked with the city to meet those guidelines.
Aussem said that the event being confined to the outdoors was key to finding suitable capacity requirements.
The Chris Kringle Market returns Friday through Sunday for its final weekend in downtown Ottawa.