Bluffton council lightens up to give shoppers, diners more options

Visitors to Bluffton’s dozens of annual outdoor events and festivals will likely soon have more choices for shopping and dining.

Bluffton’s Town Council voted Tuesday to change town code and relax regulations on vendors who peddle their wares at events such as annual Bluffton Seafood and Arts Festival or weekly Farmers Market of Bluffton.

The change was aimed at making the process of getting vendors approved for events “more efficient and keep in line with being business-friendly,” according to town documents.

Currently, all vendors must have a business license to participate in events, even if they are coming from out of town to do business for a single day.

The regulation changes would ease that burden and hopefully draw a wider variety of vendors to events, town officials say.

The proposal — which was introduced last month — was passed by town elected officials unanimously. Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka was not in attendance Tuesday, but she voted in favor of the changes on a preliminary vote last month.

The burden of making sure all vendors are licensed has become “a huge concern of some of our (event) organizers,” Sulka said before last month’s vote.

With the relaxed regulations, vendors such as farmers, food truck or stall operators, and craft sellers can participate in special events and festivals without a license, so long as the event organizers inform the town and pay a fee.

Rather than obtain an individual business license for the hundreds of vendors who operate in town, event organizers would be charged a flat $50 fee plus $10 for each participating vendor who “is an out-of-town business that doesn’t (have) a Bluffton business license,” director of finance and administration Trisha Greathouse said.

Vendors who already have a valid Bluffton business license would be exempt from the fee, she said.

Town documents show Bluffton staffers researched special events vendor regulations in areas such as Hilton Head Island, Greenville, and Myrtle Beach.

The code changes help Bluffton stay regionally competitive, achieve more consistency with nearby towns and cities, and “ease the process for ... local festivals and sponsors,” according to town documents.

This story was originally published August 8, 2017 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Bluffton council lightens up to give shoppers, diners more options."