Selectmen OK exceptions to Fairfield-only rule for Sherman Green banners

After adopting a policy that limited promotional banners unfurled over Sherman Green to Fairfield events, the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday approved its first exceptions to that hometown rule.

The first was for "Chowdafest 2012," sponsored next month by the Unitarian Church in Westport, and the second was for a concert by the rock band Foreigner, promoted by the Fairfield Theatre Co. but staged at the Klein Auditorium in Bridgeport.

First Selectman Michael Tetreau and Selectman Cristin McCarthy Vahey supported both banner requests, but Selectman James Walsh voted only in favor of the banner to promote chowder cook-off.

"There was a lot of discussion about out-of-town events and whether we should be driving people away from Fairfield," Walsh said. In the case of the Chowdafest, "I see an exception for this situation in my mind."

Three of the restaurants participating in the charity fundraiser are in Fairfield, and Walsh said attendees could end up patronizing those establishments after tasting their respective entries in the soup contest.

Proceeds from the Chowdafest benefit the Connecticut Food Bank, which has a warehouse in Fairfield on Linwood Avenue.

However, Walsh did not agree to granting the same exception for a banner to promote the FTC's concert.

Louise Heumann, co-interim director at the FTC, said the Sanford Street organization has regularly used banners over Fairfield's downtown green to advertise its Klein shows, because that is a major element FTC's overall financing.

The FTC was not aware of the change in banner policy, she said, so it had already made the banner.

"This fits smack dab in the gray area," Tetreau said, "and shows why it took us three months" to set a policy last year for displaying banners over Sherman Green.

Tetreau said the Klein concerts are an important piece of the budget for the FTC, which is a non-profit group and, he added, has become "a very important part of our downtown." He said he would support an exception for the Foreigner banner at this time because of the "economic turbulence" non-profits face because of the sluggish economy.

Tetreau said that does not mean, if the economic situation improves, that future requests from the FTC to promote its Klein shows would be approved.