New outdoor event coming to Pontiac after lengthy city council debate

Anna Hoerner is hoping to put on an outdoor event she's calling Heatwave Hangout at her Pontiac restaurant Aug. 4.

But when the idea came up for consideration at the Pontiac City Council earlier this month, it got a cool reception.

Marlon Eilts, who owns the property where Hoerner operates Lola's Homestyle Filipino Cooking, spoke to the council on behalf of Hoerner.

“She would like to do an outdoor event to showcase a lot of her popular foods,” Eilts told the council. “It's going to be more like a picnic-like area."

Where the proposal hit a wall was Hoerner's idea to have Wildflower, a Fairbury-based business that operates mobile liquor service, provide alcohol at the event.

Eilts said that Wildflower would be in charge of alcohol control. This would include being responsible for checking proper identifications and that wristbands will be used for those who are of age.

Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Causer, who owns Mario's Pizza just north of Lola's, raised concerns about parking. asked about parking. Mayor Bill Alvey and others raised concerns over crowd control and Wildflower, an out-of-town business, providing the alcohol.

City officials approved the event minus Wildflower. They are asking that if the event includes alcohol that Hoerner use a Pontiac business to guarantee greater control over the event.

"I don't like the idea of an outside vendor,” Alvey said. “I don't want to set a precedent to have these things pop-up all-over town. ... We need to have control of what we're doing. We have a lot of control with the liquor licenses and the various businesses that we have.”

“There's not a lot of recourse the mayor can have if there is poor management when you have an out-of-town person like this,” City Attorney Alan Schrock said. “If it somebody that is a PK's or Pub 13, obviously you can take action against their standing license if they didn't have (control).”

“The mayor as liquor commissioner has absolute discretion, but he's looking for guidance from the council with concerns,” Schrock added. “That's why it's on the agenda.”

Alvey also said that he wanted more specifics and suggested meeting with Woolford and Pontiac Police Chief Dan Davis.

After the lengthy conversation, the council approved the two agenda items, provided a caveat of using a local vendor and the safety controls approved by Pontiac Police and the liquor commissioner were in place.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Lola's Homestyle Filipino Cooking to host new outdoor event in Pontiac