The City of Asheville Special Events Office now accepts online event applications for festivals, parades, 5Ks, live music events and other events that happen in City parks or public space.
Online user registration has just launched on the Outdoor Special Events webpage. Formerly, multiple fillable PDF forms were posted on the site. Now the process has been streamlined into one application portal that will generate three forms without having to repeat information already provided.
This allows users to partially complete an application and save their progress, to return and complete at a later time. For that functionality, there needs to be a user name and log in created.
“This improves accuracy and efficiency for everyone, allowing the special events office to manage increased volume without significantly increasing costs,” said Economic Development Specialist Jon Fillman, who oversees the special event permitting process.
By the way, you can also book a time to chat with Fillman at this link.
Once submitted, an application can be amended up to two weeks prior to the event date (at no extra charge).
The City receives around 200 special event applications per year. And Fillman is the go-to person for overseeing scheduling and all the behind-the-scene logistics events require for use of outdoor public space, from street closings to trash pickup — and lots more.
“It’s a lot of detail,” Fillman says. “I love doing it.”
In addition to this latest innovation, the OSE office recently launched its first ever “2018 Festivals & Events Guide.” Besides being a handy guide for everyone, the “2018 Festivals & Events” guide — available online or as a booklet — is also designed to work as a resource for small business development organizations. The goal is to help create a path between the locally created products and the public.
“It doubles as a resource for small businesses, connecting the dots between them and vending opportunities throughout the year,” Fillman said.
For more about the guide, visit this link.
Fillman would like to thank co-worker Brian Benn for six months of research and work designing the OSE’s application portal. Give it a try. Let us know how it works for you!