There is simply no place in the U.S. where it is illegal to walk barefoot down city streets in the normal course of life. There was even a court case that found such a city ordinance, in Youngstown, Ohio, unconstitutional.
However, every now and again there is a street festival that takes it upon itself to have a footwear condition. The Arts, Beats & Eats festival in Royal Oak, Michigan, is one of them.
It’s really not clear to me how an event organizer can place such a barefoot restriction on a city street. Yes, the organizers are allowed to make some rules pertaining tickets or outside food and drink (which is what the festival is selling, right?). But without city approval, where do they even get the authority to suddenly require a supposed “safety rule” in an area that does not normally need a safety rule. (And that’s ignoring the fact that bare feet are perfectly safe on their own.)
We can even look at their contract with the city to see if they are allowed to make such a rule.
They’re not.
Yet they claim that they have to have it for “liability” reasons. Of course, they’re just making that up since they are not concerned about the liability from any other kind of footwear. (And you can be darn tootin’ that their insurance policy contains no such language.)
Fellow barefooter Alan Adler (who got some media time in a news story regarding his battle with gyms) was turned away from the Arts, Beats & Eats festival. After a bit of prodding, the festival organizers gave him a waiver (but refused to give one for his wife).
But Alan is nothing if not persistent, and started a conversation on their facebook page (along with a bunch of private emails).
As a result of that, on July 5 Alan was informed by the organizer, a Jon Witz, that the footwear requirement would be removed from the Event FAQ.
Yay! Good job!
Except there is one problem with that. It’s now a month later, and if you go to the FAQ for Arts, Beats & Eats, here, this is what is there:
Is footwear required for the festival?
Yes, footwear is required to attend the festival. Need more information? Contact us at info@artsbeatseats.com.
Alan started another facebook entry asking why there was no follow through. They’ve not responded to that.
This gets really frustrating when the organizers don’t follow through on their commitments. Maybe they need to be prodded (either at their facebook page or their email address).
On a nicer note, Ann Arbor just had its Street Art Fair, and bare feet are just fine there. (Somehow they don’t have “liability” problems.) Here’s a nice picture of Alan and his wife, Diane, as they visited. [Correction: this photo was taken on July 11, not at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Nonetheless the Ann Arbor Art Fair has no qualms about barefooted visitors.]
[Picture from here.]
See, Arts, Beats & Eats? It can be done.
Updated August 12.
The Arts, Beats & Eats FAQ has now been changed to read:
Is footwear required for the festival?
No, but those who enter the festival with bare feet do so at their own risk.
One of the things I’ve found is that when someone doesn’t want to do something, they will tell you they will do it and then not do it. Then if you persist they will just ignore you.
You can’t trust a liar, that’s for sure! -TJ
Thank you for this article! I’m just getting into barefooting life and had plans to go to the Arts, Beats and Eats barefooted. I was concerned someone would tell me I couldn’t. Now that I see they answered the question in the FAQ section, I’m looking forward to the enjoyment of being barefoot at the event this year!
So there were at least TWO Diane’s barefoot at this years festival!