This time we'll call to order the May 4, 2026 meeting of the City of Clearwater Downtown Development Board. This time we'll move to item 2.1 on the agenda. Approve a date change to June 6, 2026 for the Florida Orchestra Symphony by the C Concert. Good afternoon. Brian Ulbrich, CRA coordinator for the record, chair, members of the board. This item is to approve a date change to June 6 for the previously awarded high-impact grant awarded to the Florida Orchestra for a symphony by the C at Baycare Sound. The event was originally scheduled for May 8, but due to a scheduling conflict with Country Thunder Florida, there has been a request to change. The new date remains within the current fiscal year and complies with current grant requirements. The overall scope is unchanged and is a free public concert correction. It is a free public concert with the addition of a $15 preferred seating selection. I'm happy to answer any questions. Does anyone here from the public desire to speak to this agenda? Is there any more discussion? Mayor, thank you. Just wanted to thank the Florida Orchestra Symphony for their flexibility and inconvenience on moving their date. It's appreciated and I look forward to June 6. Thank you. Okay. Any further board discussions? If not, is there a motion? Move to approve agenda 2.1. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Mandus. Thank you. Get item 2.2. Approve a location change for May 9, 2026, Market Marie from Cochum Park to Cleveland Street from Port Harrison to East Avenue. Good afternoon, board. Marilyn Brown, CRA specialist. This item is a request to approve a location change for May 9, 2026, Market Marie event. Per the DDB agreement, Market Marie was approved for a high-impact special event grant to host its monthly market at Cochum Park. Any changes require board approval. Due to Country Thunder music festival taking place that weekend, special event staff has worked with Market Marie to relocate the May 9th event to Cleveland Street from Port Harrison Avenue to East Avenue. All other event details remain the same. The market continues to be free, open to the public, and consistent in scope. I'm happy to answer any questions. See, we're going to hear from the public today that desires to speak to this agenda item. Hearing saying none, is there any board discussion? If not, is there a motion? Motion to approve agenda item 2.2. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 2.3, Yooka-Laylee Festival and the District 2026 event report. Good afternoon, Vicki Shire, CRI Division Manager. This item is the Yooka-Laylee Festival and the District 2026 event recap. The event took place on March 15, 2026. This is an informational item, and the Etembe Yooka-Laylee Society staff is here to present. I'd like to introduce Robert Wilde at this time. Thank you, Vicki. Always good to be here, and particularly to see all the amazing changes downtown and the additions and this new EVO addition, which I saw the other days. I'm sure are going to be quite enhancing to the downtown. We're very proud to have been a small but an early contributor to things that are happening in the downtown, and obviously we want to continue to do that. At the urging a couple of years ago of Chris Cook, he suggested we think about using the green in the park, which we did this year. So between having the early part of the day, 12 to 3, up on the 400 block, and then the large tent in the park, we kind of were able to join both the downtown with the park, two of the, we think, the most salient features. We did a lot of new things this year. Firsts, if you might, one first I have to point out is when I talked to Vicki about two weeks ago, she said, it's always good to hear your voice. I can assure you that's the first time in my 80 years that I've ever heard that. I was happy to hear it. Let me move this along. I noticed you had Symphony by the Sea. Our event we called this year was Ukes in the Park. It was the first time that we did a tent at a fair, and it looked marvelous. Mayor Richter, thank you for being there. As he noted, and we did not hire the yacht, but as he was speaking, a yacht was going by in the background. It was a gorgeous day. It poured rain in Clearwater, but it was gorgeous here. And you couldn't help but think, when they were building that park, I don't think anyone realized what an amazing addition, and it's probably the best $85 million ever spent to have that, and that's kind of one of the most salient features. One thing that was pointed out was a large number of the attendees were from outside of Pinellas County, and a large number, it was the first time that they'd ever been downtown, let alone into the park. So any time you can create that many new people, it spreads, and we think it just adds to the event. We had about 325 attendees, and it underscored, without question, the slogan, the city slogan of the Bay to the Beach. We want to build on this, obviously. We have some great support from Achieva Credit Union, Shorty's, the restaurants down on the 400 block. But the ukulele world is pretty widespread, but very close-knit. And an event like that, the artists particularly enjoy coming here. We go out of our way to take really good care of them. So right after the concert the next day, we got a call from Hawaii. One of their great stars said, we want to play in the park. That's become the mantra. We have people from Belgium, England. They really want to come and play, and we're happy to hear that. And it gives us a real great choice of talent in the future. As I said, the optics were really, really strong. We'll probably move it a little closer to the stairs this time. So some of the people who were older or used walkers, they couldn't walk on the grass, so we'll probably move a little closer. We may have either a van or a trolley to maybe take some people down the hill so we can accommodate that audience. Very happy with the results, particularly from social media. And as I said, Achieva made a very big buy with the Dove, the most popular station in probably the southeast. And they'll continue to do that. So the identity is very, very strong. They were extremely happy, and we're going to build on that as well. Obviously, we couldn't do it. Couldn't even dream of doing it without your assistance. So without brown-nosing too much, we want to thank you for that continuing support. This will be our sixth year coming up, and it just continues to grow. We get good feedback from the merchants on the 400 block, and the people who attend are always extremely pleased. And actually surprised if they haven't been down to see what's happening, and more and more, obviously, each day. So we'll be coming back to you pretty shortly, hopefully in the next couple of months. We definitely want to do it again. We're in the process of booking our artists, and we'll probably add a morning event to go along with it, maybe a brunch at one of the establishments. But the object is obviously to try to enhance the business to the restaurants, particularly in the district, and also to enhance the image and the viability of the ukulele as a major entertainment tool. So, again, thank you. I'm willing to entertain any questions that you may have. Just out of curiosity, and I think the staff would actually be able to answer this question, I see that the placer data shows 295 attendees from 12 to 4, and then another 257 from 4 to 6. Does the AI, are they able to differentiate unique visits, or are they considering overlap, since the two time blocks are overlapping? Or does AI actually, is it able to identify unique visits and be able to differentiate between people who go from 4 to 6? Oh, you mean the ones that are on the street, 12 to 3, that come down? From 4 to 4, right? And then from 4 to 6, there's the Coachman Park. So I'm just wondering if AI has that capability to see if the people from 2 to 4, 12 to 4, go to the next time block. Just wondering if that's, if that's the sophistication. Okay. I got you. I'll have to go back to look at the report we actually pulled, because I only looked at the numbers, but let me get that information to you, if that's okay at a later date. Just curiosity, how advanced that AI is. It's pretty advanced. It does different, like, demographics and how long and if this person, it does, but I'd have to go back and look to see which type of report we pulled. Okay. Because there's multiple reports you can pull. Right. Thank you. Yeah, just the timing. This year is going to be 12 to 3, and then we're going to move the concert back maybe a half hour, just to take advantage of as much sunlight as we can. April 4th is the date that we're looking at because the city is restricted in that March period because of the spring training and the spring break. So April 4th is the first available Saturday out of the March window. So it's March 4th, and we've reserved it to have our application into the city already for that date. But it will be 12 to 3 on the 400 block and then probably like 330 to 530 down on the green. So I attended. I'd say that number's not, you know, way off. It wasn't a large crowd, and he's acknowledged that. But, you know, I'd say the place or ID is probably fairly accurate for how many I attended. I will say that the music was outstanding. The bands were really, really good, high level. And to your point, I spoke with a number of the folks who were there and, you know, from Massachusetts from all over. Some of them Snowbirds who lived in that region. And, you know, but also to your point, for a number of the folks I spoke with, it was the first time to downtown Clearwater Ocean Park, and they were very impressed with both. So it did draw folks from, you know, who weren't familiar with downtown Clearwater. So that was good, and the music was fantastic. Got a chance to meet the bands, too. They were from Missouri and Nebraska. Yeah. And both outstanding. And this year, you have to keep rotating them, unfortunately. But we have a couple now that we think will match that this coming year. And I would say this, too. You know, like the one this weekend is a huge event. But what I did learn from their event was you can put a lot of people under a tent facing, you know, right there on the water, and it makes a spectacular backdrop for smaller music events. I mean, we don't – we're always thinking big, and we've got Jazz Holiday and other things down there. But you and your group showed that, you know, even for smaller music events, you probably wouldn't have them intended to give cover to folks, either shade for the sun or cover in case it rains. But I really like the way you set it up with the band closest to the water and the view of the water in the backdrop. Yeah, the tent will take about 400. The only comment we got was some of the people couldn't make it across, so maybe we can put out something that they can walk on. People had walkers or had trouble walking. But I did like closer to the water as well. We'll decide that. Okay. Anything else? Thank you for coming by. Thank you for your support and continuing. Thank you for your good report. And we'll continue to do the best we can to enhance the downtown. Thank you. Then we'll move to Item 3.1, the May DDB Director's Report. I'm Jesus Nino, CRA Executive Director. This is your May 2026 Director's Report. As a report, basically, I'll provide you status updates for what's going on in the DDB area. As you're aware, we've scheduled a special meeting for May the 18th, 2026, at 1 p.m. here at the Council Chambers, so you can hear the deliverables and where RBOA is at as far as what they're supposed to be providing you. They'll also be presenting to you some branding concepts, and hopefully that meeting is fruitful for you and you can give them direction to continue to move forward. Next, I'll give you a little brief event recap. So Taste of Clearwater, this event took place on April 18, 2026, at Station Square on the 600 block of Cleveland Street. This was presented to you by the Rotary Club of Clearwater. And once we do have the place area data, we'll bring that back to you in a future report. Cinco de Mayo event, the Taste of the Taco Fest, that event took place yesterday. That was brought to you by Unimex. So I really thank the mayor and Councilwoman Teixeira for their wonderful words there. I was able to see the Councilwoman, but unfortunately I didn't get an opportunity to speak to you there. But you did a fantastic job talking to the community. I did hear individuals say that we're happy that you showed up. And by the time that I left around 4, 30, 5 o'clock, it was just getting bigger and bigger as the crowds. And walking to the parking lots, I just saw more and more people coming in. So they usually underestimate their numbers. So it's going to be curious to see what their placer AI numbers are going to be at the end of the day. As far as upcoming events, Sharkapalooza, we're looking forward to that particular event. And we're spreading the word as much as possible on our social media. That event is going to take place on Saturday, May 16th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Coachman Park. And that's brought to you by Fuzzy Sharks. Feels weird saying that, but. And as staff already indicated, we do have Symphony by the Sea. That event is going to take place on June 6th, 2026, at the Baycare Sound. That's brought to you by the Florida Orchestra. Then Market Marie, again, as staff presented, it's going to take place instead at the usual location, Saturday, May the 9th, basically from Fort Harrison to East Avenue. That concludes, keeps going, that concludes the regular presentation, but I do have a few flyers here. Bring it up, Ms. Lopez. Well, we do have it up on the other monitor here. This is just a reminder to the public of Country Thunder. That's coming to the public on May the 8th through the tents. And that's going to be a, hopefully, a fantastic event for our downtown. Hopefully, staff is continuing to have communication with the merchants down the street. If they're not, then I think they are because I sent them out there. But we'll continue our efforts to communicate and just to make sure that everyone is connected as far as the patrons to the Country Thunder. They're going to be allowed to leave the concert and hopefully go and dine and have a good time with the merchants. And this one is just an FYI to the public. We do have, I'm going, this one is Tacos El Carnal or Tacos El Carnal. So this is a new Mexican restaurant. It's located on Cleveland Street at 1310 Cleveland Street for the public if you're interested. Then this one is coming soon. Staff is reaching out to them for the last few weeks to make sure they're doing okay. Planning Department is working with them. Hopefully, we can get them to the finish line. They have two locations. This is Glazed Donuts, two locations opening up in Clearwater. One is here in the downtown, the DDB boundary at Court and Myrtle. Their address for that particular location is 411 South Myrtle Avenue, right there where the old subway location is at, across the street from Clearwater Beach Fitness. And the other location is outside of our boundary, but we can still kind of advertise their business a little bit here. That one is located at 2006 Drew Street. That's also a former subway location. That concludes my presentation. I'm open for questions. Comments, questions? I'll start with Councilman Rolbritt. It's good to have a donut place right across from a workout center. Yeah. I have a question about the country event. What is the plan on parking, or is there any plan on parking? Because events in that volume sometimes can affect the merchants having issue for their regular diners to come in and dine in. And we've seen that with multiple sound events, so I was wondering. Yeah, definitely. And if I can't answer the question adequately, we do have Mr. Slaughter and Mr. Battle here to also kind of jump in. But this is a group effort as far as city departments, public works, the parking division, to make sure that we're identifying all the parking areas. In addition, we do have our property that's owned by the CRA that's down at the Washington MLK area. It's a big vacant lot. That's going to be an additional parking there as well. But we're working all together to make sure that we point people to the right locations, and when they leave, they can also kind of leave comfortably. I'm not sure if any of you want to say anything about that. Do you want to? The parking plan essentially mirrors what we do for large events at The Sound. We are advertising essentially on their website, linking to ours with our free public. We're trying to push it obviously away from private lots to support the restaurants, but to the free parking of the free parking garages. And we anticipate the private lots like they often do open up with, like, the Boy Scouts selling it and taking advantage of some of that open space as well. So that's the plan. We are optimistic, though, that the venue does allow the patrons to leave at one point and come back. So that the ticketed people can leave, come up, and take advantage of the restaurants between the multiple acts. They may, like, enjoy this one, want to go up, get some dinner, and then go back for the other acts. So we're hoping that helps support your operations down there as well. And I don't think the expected maximum attendance is anything larger than the largest show we've had. Yeah, we're projected. They projected the other day 8,000. What's the last rate information I got? I don't know if that's for each day, but they were expecting an average week. The largest we've had at the Sound has been close to 9, so it shouldn't be different than that. Good question, though, because I'm sure it does affect our emergency. And sometimes with events like this where you have multiple acts spread out between 2 and 9 p.m., some people come for a couple in the beginning and they leave, and so you have a little bit of turnover, too, so you don't necessarily always see all 8 at the same time. Or hopefully it will be a good event for you. Thank you. Any other questions? That question is just a comment. After I saw you around 4 o'clock, we did the contest. That was great. And then I returned around 9 o'clock, and it was packed, and everyone was dancing. And I believe it had more of a turnout than last year, so it's improved. So I thought it was a really great event. Yes, Telemundo was there. I guess they agreed to sponsor, and so definitely their coverage brought out a lot of people. Thank them for that. Okay. Nothing else? Then we'll move on to item 4, board members to be heard. Councilman Rawbritton? I do have a question. I didn't see approval of last month's minutes as we're not doing that, or was it left off intentionally? We will have minutes for you at the May 18th, so there'll be two sets of minutes for you at the 18th meeting. Okay. Yep. Good question. Okay. Anything else for board members to be heard? If not, we'll adjourn the May 4, 2026 meeting of the City Clearwater Downtown Development Board, and we will convene the work session at 1.30. Thank you.