Sausalito Art Festival canceled as controversy continues over encampment

Leaders of the annual Sausalito Art Festival have announced the cancellation of the 2021 event following weeks of controversy surrounding a homeless encampment, according to a press release from the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation.

The Sausalito City Council is attempting to move a group of unhoused residents from Dunphy Park along the Sausalito waterfront to Marinship Park, where the art festival traditionally is held.

As the city grappled with whether officials have the right to move the encampment, members of the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation waited for updates before deciding on whether they’d hold the event in September.

But the organization decided to cancel the festival as it became clear that there would be no sure answer on the camp’s location.

Dunphy Park, where the encampment is currently, was offered by the city as a backup location for the festival.

However, city commissioners and Sausalito residents opposed the use of Dunphy Park for the festival because of worries about traffic and crowds, the Mercury News reported.

When, in February, the city tried to move unhoused residents from the Dunphy Park camp, residents sued, backed by the California Homeless Union.

“Unfortunately, we are simply out of time to work through the opposition voiced to the movement of the Festival to Dunphy Park,” said Sausalito Art Festival Foundation Chairman Louis Briones in a press release.

The Sausalito Art Festival was also canceled in 2020 due to pandemic guidelines. Now, foundation officials say they can only focus on trying to bring back the event for 2022.

The festival is a major source of income for over 100 artist from the Bay Area and elsewhere, according to the Mercury News.

“The pandemic has created a chain reaction of events that we could not anticipate. It impacted the homeless, which impacted the parks, which impacted the City, which impacted the Festival,” Briones said in the press release.