Vendors setting up at Mobile’s popular LoDa ArtWalk faced a new layer of scrutiny this month as city officials began actively enforcing peddler’s license requirements that had gone largely unenforced since the monthly arts event began.
City revenue officials and Mobile Police Department officers conducted random compliance checks during the March 13 ArtWalk, a monthly showcase of local artists concentrated around Cathedral Square that is jointly presented by the Mobile Arts Council and the city’s special events department. While peddler’s licenses have technically been required of vendors since the event started, city spokesman George Talbot confirmed that the renewed enforcement effort followed months of negotiations between city officials and the arts council.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said the crackdown grew out of ArtWalk’s own success. “This community event is experiencing the best problem you could have: overwhelming participation,” Stimpson said in a prepared statement. “Due to increased popularity, the city of Mobile and the Mobile Arts Council have decided on best practices that preserve the artistic integrity of the event while addressing issues that have risen due to increased participation.”
The push for enforcement has support from downtown business owners who compete with ArtWalk vendors for foot traffic and sales. Carol Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Downtown Mobile Alliance, said brick-and-mortar gallery and shop owners have long felt the licensing gap gave unlicensed vendors an unfair advantage. “The brick and mortar folks pay the sales taxes and business licenses and all of that,” Hunter said. “They always felt it was a little bit of an unfair advantage for folks to set up in public (right-of-ways) and conduct business.”
City officials first signaled their intent to enforce the licensing rule back in October 2014, giving vendors months of advance notice before checks actually began. Talbot said the deadline to register with the Mobile Arts Council to reserve a display space had already passed by the time enforcement started, though he noted the city retained some flexibility for artists who wanted to participate on short notice.
It remained unclear at the time exactly what penalties vendors might face if found without a valid peddler’s license during a compliance check, though the presence of both revenue department staff and police officers signaled the city intended to treat the requirement seriously going forward rather than as a rule enforced only on paper.
LoDa ArtWalk has grown into one of downtown Mobile’s signature recurring events, drawing artists, musicians, and food vendors to the historic Lower Dauphin Street district each month and helping anchor the area’s broader downtown revitalization efforts over the past decade.