Weed City Council approves two-day Main Street closure, parking waivers for Steampunk & Rat Rod festival

The Weed City Council voted 4–1 to approve an encroachment permit and two-day closure of Main Street for the Steampunk & Rat Rod festival on May 18–19, 2024, authorizing alcohol sales within the event footprint and temporary parking waivers.

The motion, which included waiving sections of the Weed Municipal Code related to outside sale and consumption of alcohol within the event boundaries and directing staff to make Clay Street parking available on one side during the event, passed after council members debated emergency access and neighborhood impacts. "If the event's going on they're going to have to go Roseberg Parkway to Lincoln... the idea here is that if we had to respond with fire ... they could get there a lot faster," a council member said while pressing staff on response routes.

Council also approved waiving overnight-parking restrictions for the municipal lot for the event and authorized staff to post 24-hour advance notice and place cones and barricades. Mayor Parham and other members instructed staff to knock on doors and provide multilingual handouts to Clay Street residents who park on the affected side; the council noted some residents speak English as a second language and urged direct outreach.

Richard D. Denis, who represents the Weed Chamber of Commerce, told the council that the chamber has arranged to use a small private lot behind US Bank to display Rat Rod cars and offered to help with a ribbon-cutting once new electric chargers are commissioned. "When it does come on... it brings more people off the highway and more people into downtown Weed," Denis said.

The motion carried 4–1. Council members instructed staff to coordinate signage, outreach to affected residents, and logistical details for emergency access during the closure. The council then moved into other business and later adjourned the public meeting to closed session.