A press release from the city of Sedona’s Parks & Recreation Department just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, announced three fall events were canceled: The Sedona Stumble Trail Run planned for Saturday, Oct. 3, the Pumpkin Splash planned for Saturday, Oct. 17, and the Safe and Fun Trick or Treat planned for Saturday, Oct. 31.

The press release states, “With the governor’s Executive Order prohib­iting public group gather­ings over 50 people and the city’s desire to keep residents and visitors safe, the city of Sedona Parks and Recreation Department will not hold the following three events this fall.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s Executive Order 2020-43 does not prohibit all gatherings outright, however. It explicitly allows towns, cities and counties leeway to waive the prohibition: “Organized public events of more than 50 people are prohibited unless the city, town or county in unincorporated areas has approved the event, and only if adequate safety precautions are implemented, including physical distancing measures.”

City staff did not indi­cate why precautions nor physical distancing measures could not be implemented to allow these events to go forward in some form.

“The public is rarely involved in these kinds of health and safety decisions,” Sedona City Manager Justin Clifton wrote in an email Sept. 21. “The city preserves the right to cancel events that it organizes or hosts whenever we think the event cannot be oper­ated safely.”

“I fully support the deci­sion of our team to cancel events that are prohibited by the governor’s order and that can’t assure sufficient safety proto­cols to mitigate risk,” Clifton wrote. He did not clarify who comprised “the team” nor who on “the team” canceled the events.

There was no discus­sion with the public nor with Sedona City Council about terminating these three public events.

“I don’t believe that we discussed it at all,” Councilman Scott Jablow said.

“To the best of my recollection council did not explicitly discuss this action,” Councilman Bill Chisholm wrote. “I don’t know if staff discussed this with the chamber or merchants.”

When shown that the chamber’s website still showed that trick or treating was sched­uled, Chisholm added, “Definitely a breakdown somewhere for sure.”

“This did not come before council, but was the result of adhering to the 50 people gathering max by the governor,” Vice Mayor John Martinez wrote. “To me the key phrase is ‘only if adequate safety precau­tions are implemented.’”

Parks & Recreation Manager Steve Richardson also did not clarify who in city government made the final decision to cancel these events.

Sedona Stumble

• The Sedona Stumble Trail Run was originally scheduled March 28, but was postponed to Oct. 3.

“RunSedona and the Parks & Recreation Department worked closely to explore every solution to pull off the event,” Richardson wrote. He did not say if city staff or RunSedona canceled the event.

“In a running race, it is near impossible to force physical distancing even with a rolling or stag­gered start time,” he said. “It is also a great chal­lenge to prevent runners who are at a similar pace from ending up next to each other for prolonged periods of time. Racers heavy breathing can also increase the risk of person-to-person transmission.”

However, all the high schools in the Verde Valley — Sedona Red Rock, Mingus Union and Camp Verde high schools — currently participate in cross country events, both in person and remotely.

“Reasonable people can disagree on what is reasonable in these circumstance[s],” Clifton wrote. “And we see differ­ences all across the region, state and nation. Some schools opened in-person while some implemented hybrid approaches while others remained fully remote. Some city offices opened early like Sedona while others remained fully closed.”

Sedona and Camp Verde schools reopened last month. Cottonwood schools reopened early this month, prior to the city’s announcement.

“The city has allowed other events where main­taining physical distance is more feasible,” Clifton said. “But frankly, I’m not sure how you maintain ‘distance’ while simultane­ously ‘racing.’ I frankly, I can’t think of an activity more likely to spread respi­ratory droplets than running fast and breathing hard.”

“A virtual event was also considered, but it was deemed that was not the best solution,” Richardson wrote. “All registrants have been contacted regarding options available.”

As of Sept. 21, the website still advertises the event kicking off at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 3, but the regis­tration link advises runners they can transfer their fees to other races or in-store credit to a Flagstaff-area running store.

Pumpkin Splash

• Pumpkin Splash is an event at the Sedona Community Pool. In normal years, for $5 per person, swimmers can pick a pumpkin from the pool and participate in poolside activities.

The city currently allows 20 people per pool class and 50 people during recreation swim. These restricted occupancy limits are unaffected by the city’s decision.

Neither Richardson nor Clifton said who decided to cancel Pumpkin Splash.

Uptown Halloween

• The Safe and Fun Trick or Treat, one of Sedona’s most popular public events, is run predominantly by Uptown merchants who stay open late, provide candy to attendees, decorate their store fronts and offer various activities on the private and public spaces in front of their businesses.

City Council has not hosted a costume contest in several years. The last performance of “Thriller” on a blocked-off Jordan Road was in 2018.

Richardson said the city “provides marketing/ promotion, communica­tion with the merchants and police detail. We receive and respond to many inqui­ries about it as well.”

“Similarly, Temporary Use Permits have always had a requirement for health and safety, and the city reserves the right to deny those that are deemed unsafe,” Clifton wrote.

The Sedona Red Rock News asked Clifton several times for details about what permits the city approved in 2019. Clifton refused to answer.

The event is still listed as a live event on the city’s website through one portal but shows as canceled through another avenue. It is still listed as live on the Sedona Chamber of Commerce’s VisitSedona website.

“Regarding Uptown trick-or-treat, we spoke with the [Sedona] Chamber [of Commerce] and agreed that inviting large crowds would also contradict our consistent approach on following the group gathering limitations,” Richardson wrote.

However, chamber offi­cials said they spoke with some merchants about the event, but provided no corroboration that they spoke with Richardson nor Parks & Rec.

Richardson said “corre­spondence was not in a meeting, but a phone call, therefore there are not any minutes.” He did not provide details about who he spoke to or when.

The chamber provided no other information about any discussions with any city staff, adding it has “no authority to shut anything down.”

“I don’t find those state­ments incompatible,” Clifton said. “It seems to me that the chamber can agree that it is best to cancel an event and still clarify that it is not that authority to do so. I’m happy to look into it further. But I’d be surprised if Steve just made it up.”

The chamber received an email from Parks & Recreation’s Recreation Coordinator Ali Baxter 15 minutes after the city issued the general press release on Sept. 16 that stated, “With the Governor’s Executive Orders prohibiting public group gatherings over 50 people and the city’s desire to keep residents and visitors safe, the city of Sedona Parks & Recreation Department has made the decision to cancel Uptown Trick-or-Treat this year.”

Baxter’s email to the chamber makes no mention of any discussions with chamber officials nor with any Uptown merchants.

When asked why the city is incapable of mitigating risk, Clifton said, “We never said there could be no events whatsoever and certainly never attributed our decision to being ‘inca­pable’ of anything. Rather, we said that a specific list of events would be canceled based on the rules and guidance given to us by the governor and the specific nature of each of the events canceled.”

“I interpret the gover­nor’s order to start with the premise that all events should be canceled but that exceptions can be made if safety precautions are in place,” Clifton said.

He did not indicate why precautions were not discussed with the public, merchants nor with Sedona City Council.

• When asked by the NEWS, “if Uptown merchants choose to host trick-or-treating events, will city officials allow them or will they stop them?” Clifton said, “Thus far the city has not attempted to interrupt any free assembly of people. But the city has and will prevent entities from organizing events without a permit if one is needed and will continue to care­fully consider which of the events the city orga­nizes or hosts should be canceled.”

• The NEWS asked, “If Uptown merchants choose to host trick-or-treating events at their front door, will city officials allow them or will they stop them?”

“If the activity is not problematic from a permit standpoint city officials will not stop them,” Clifton said. “I’m not trying to be evasive here. But the bottom line is that there is a difference between having a candy bowl at the ready for trick-or-treaters and hosting a special event that is well beyond the entitle­ments of a retail store.”

• The NEWS asked, “If ‘the city has and will prevent entities from organizing events’ will the city staff block entrances to businesses that offer trick-or-treating?”

“I don’t recall a situ­ation where the city has ever blocked an entrance,” Clifton said. “Again, having a candy bowl ready is one thing. Hosting a special event is another.”

• The NEWS asked, “If ‘the city has and will prevent entities from orga­nizing events’ will the city order merchants to remove Facebook posts promoting trick-or-treating?”

“Again, there would need to be consideration of scale here,” Clifton said. “If a merchant entices shoppers who come by on Halloween with the prospects of candy I can’t see how that would be a problem. If a merchant promotes a special trick-or-treat party where throngs of people congregate it could be problematic if such activities would require a [permit]. But even then, I can’t imagine the city’s recourse would be to order removal of a Facebook post.”

• The NEWS asked “The city did not stop people shopping on Labor Day weekend. How is handing out candy at one’s busi­ness entrance any different than allowing customers to wander Uptown and shop in the store?”

“I don’t think it is,” Clifton said. “Merchants can give out candy any day of the year as far as I know. Again, this is different from hosting some kind of party that would otherwise require a [permit].”