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Christmas Tree Lane residents take concerns over vendors to city leaders
• Permitted vendors will be moved to nearby Smyrna Park
Christmas Tree Lane art vendor
Christmas Tree Lane attracts thousands of visitors from throughout the Valley every December but residents are not happy about vendors selling products on the street and in driveways. This year the city will be cracking down but is offering vendors a place in Smyrna Park east of the main entrance to the lane, - photo by JEFF BENZIGER/Courier file photo

Several residents living on Christmas Tree Lane say they will be decorating their yards this holiday season after initial threats to black out in protest of the vending of food and products that they’ve grown frustrated over in past years.

A group of about five residents living on Henry Avenue and Vaughn Street – the traditional Christmas Tree Lane neighborhood – met with Mayor Javier Lopez and city staff members on Wednesday evening to express their concerns about the sales of items like pretzels, churros, hot chocolate and other items both in driveways and up and down the street.

“We don’t want it to happen on our street during the holidays,” Sherry Payne, who moved onto Henry Avenue in 1998, told the Courier. She said the vending activities have increased over time to where the event has a flea market feel.

The city came up with a compromise: to only allow up to 10 vendors to set up on the western section of Smyrna Park opposite the entrance of Christmas Tree Lane at Moffett Road and Henry Avenue. The vendors will have to get a permit from the city with lane residents getting first choice of spots and at-large Ceres residents if any remain. The city also pledged to do its best to crack down on other vendors roaming up and down the street selling other items like glow-in-the-dark necklaces and other light-up toys for kids.

“We felt that it was a productive meeting and that we can get this whole thing under control,” said Payne. “If things go as they say it should be okay. We left the meeting feeling like this is headed in the right direction.”

Christmas Tree Lane has been a tradition in Ceres since 1961. The lane opens officially on Saturday, Dec. 2 this year with the first night closed to vehicular traffic so pedestrian may freely walk on the street. The rest of the nights vehicular traffic is open.

Payne told the Courier that vendors in past years have been a hardship for lane residents, citing how one neighbor sold churros from his driveway only to have inconsiderate motorists stop for sales and block their driveway. She reported that there were times she couldn’t get out of her driveway with the blocking vehicle driver not budging.

Payne said the city has made good faith efforts in past years to head off problems, such as setting up a surveillance camera to help ward of theft, setting up garbage cans along the street, sweep the streets before opening night and timing the closure of the streets before opening night. Last year she was disappointed that the city didn’t get a handle on the street vendors. She said when residents reported problems with vendors they would get the runaround, first calling code enforcement after hours only to receive a recording instructing to call police. Police responded by saying it’s not their job, it’s something for code enforcement to deal with.

“You know, we do this for the community, not for somebody to make a living off of what we’re doing. It’s not meant for somebody who’s setting up shop selling churros and hot chocolate. They’re not meant to come on our street and make a living off of us.”

Payne said she and her husband will be decorating their yard beginning the day after Thanksgiving.