Novato Festival Organizers Ready to Hit the Streets

Later this evening, 10 months of behind-the-scenes planning for one of the county's most eagerly anticipated events will hit the streets.

Literally.

Downtown road closures will start at about  9:00 p.m. in anticipation of up to 90,000 visitors for this weekend's 30th Annual Novato Art, Wine and Music Festival.

The festival opens its doors on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m., and shutters at 7:00 p.m. It will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Road closures will go up on Redwood Boulevard down to Seventh Street, with adjacent side streets and nearby portions of Grant Avenue closed too, Chamber of Commerce CEO Coy Smith said. Signal lights will be adjusted preventing left turns onto Grant Avenue.

Some 250 booths will be set up between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

“It's pretty chaotic in the morning while everybody's setting up and getting their stuff ready,” Smith said.

All affected streets will be steam cleaned starting at about 9 p.m. Sunday night.

“We'll leave it spotless,” Smith said. “By 11 or 11:30 (Sunday) night you'd never think we were even there.”

The 600 or so volunteers committed to making the festival run smoothly will have their work cut out for them, Smith said.

“(The festival's) going to start whether we're ready or not,” Smith said.