Blacksburg's Steppin' Out denies booths to several, including pro-gun group and Montgomery Dems

[TexasTowelie]

Blacksburg’s Steppin’ Out festival is steppin’ up its threshold to determine what groups can officially participate in the annual event.

Festival organizers for the first time this year denied a handful of applications for booths at the two-day affair that starts Friday. Those included applications filed by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun group, as well as the Montgomery County Democratic Party.

Downtown Blacksburg Inc., which runs Steppin’ Out, said this week that some groups were denied as part of a recent restructuring of the festival’s mission.

“DBI re-designed the festival this year to create a more family-friendly street fair focused on music, food, drink, visual and performing arts, crafts and games and having widespread appeal to the community, families and attendees,” DBI Director Laureen Blakemore wrote in an email. “The festival redesign simply did not include room for individuals (including political candidates) and organizations whose primary focus is advocacy on political or social causes and issues, regardless of viewpoint or message.”

Read more: https://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/blacksburg-s-steppin-out-denies-booths-to-several-including-pro/article_01fdc448-fdc9-5eee-9efe-85bcfe37e89a.html

[JudyM]

1. Lost opportunity to register voters.

Hopefully some folks will still circulate through the crowd with clipboards.