Organizers outline Main Street summer events as merchants and residents voice support and questions

Al Smith outlined a lineup of summer events for Main Street in Daytona Beach, saying he has run the street’s events for about 20 years and that the series is aimed at drawing tourists and locals back downtown.

"The two main things are content and marketing," Smith said, summarizing his approach and adding that the food‑truck event will include more than 25 trucks and that past years collected more than 1,000 email addresses via QR‑code voting. He named Rumfest for June 27 and said the food‑truck competition is planned for July 27, with a tacos‑and‑margaritas night on Aug. 8; a New Year’s Eve event has not yet been applied for.

Support for the events was strong among Main Street merchants. "I've been here over 40 years... I'm here to support him and anything the city does that's gonna make Main Street come back to life," said Johnny Rockeride. Bobby Gidotti of Main Street Tattoo told the group, "I'm pro event," and suggested the city consider mechanized, segmented street‑blocking posts to reduce labor and complexity when closing streets for events. "It's just something to think about," he said.

Sarah Gaudati of Main Street Tattoo said the merchant community broadly supports events and urged more residents and business owners to attend redevelopment meetings so they can steward redevelopment dollars together. Organizers noted that porta‑lets are required by the city for permit approval and that water stations have generally not been an issue.

Meeting moderators cautioned that the gathering was advisory and that there was not a quorum, so no formal action was taken. The group said Kathy Beck from the National Main Street program at the state of Florida will speak to the city commission at next week’s meeting about potentially designating Main Street as a Main Street USA program—an effort organizers said could bring additional support and visibility.

The meeting ended without a formal vote; organizers encouraged attendees to fill out speaker cards and said they would continue coordinating logistics and permitting with city staff.