Downtown Fairs Cramp Business, Shopowner Says After Recent Theft

More people sometimes bring good business, but not for Chris Rodriguez, who owns Pegasus Bicycle Works in downtown Danville.  During the 19th Anuual Danville Fine Arts Faire over Father's Day weekend, a man took a $3,000 Scott model mountain bike for a test ride and never came back.

The crush of fair attendees that comes to downtown Danville hurts business at his bike shop in several ways, according to Rodriguez.

"To have that fair in the middle of summer during an entire weekend really slows my sales," he said.  "With the number of people it brings in, there's hardly in-town parking available and my business suffers for it."

The Fine Arts Faire was hosted last month by the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce and MLA Productions, according to the festival's website.  MLA Productions hosts several other festivals in the Bay Area, including the Danville Fall Crafts Festival that will be hosted in October.

The event last month drew 20,000 people to downtown Danville on June 19, according to organizers, who expected the number to rise to 40,000 by the end of the festival on June 20.  The event is hosted along Hartz Avenue, one street down from Pegasus Bicycle Works on Railroad Avenue.

"A lot of my customers are regulars that are Danville residents," Rodriguez said.  "They don't want to come downtown and deal with all the activity that's happening because of the fair."

Eric Janssen, owner of The Basil Leaf Cafe on Hartz Avenue, provided food to some of the festival's street artists and volunteers and said he supports the event because it strengthens the town's commerce.

"The festival brings a lot of people to Danville," Janssen said.  "Merchants get customers from far and wide, and the thousands that come to town will inevitably spend money in town."

Pegasus store clerk Miles Anvari said he served the man who rode off on the mountain bike and described him as a stout Caucasian man with short-cropped blonde hair and looked "thuggish, like he wasn't from around here."

"It's rare to have a bike stolen on test rides because most customers are repeat customers that we know well," Rodriguez said.

Store employees reported the bicycle missing on June 21.  Rodriguez said he is not aware of any progress in the police investigation.