My dictionary gives for Festival: day or time of celebration, series of musical etc, performances held regularly in town etc.

If there is a time for a stricter approach to the enforcing of by-laws that are usually ignored - it is not I suggest when the town is supposed to be in festival mode. Unless you wish for some strange reason to quickly get it out of festival mode.

I remember well a few years back when there was a move to prevent buskers on the esplanade from collecting for anything other than for festival funds. Some talented young musicians who we knew, arrived there for the first time to play and hopefully also make a little money. They were a little mystified at being prevented. This heavy handed approach at the start of the week did cause uneeded bad-feeling, especially as by half way through, the attempt to maintain the policy was abandoned.....

I see nothing wrong at all with encouraging folk to busk and collect for the festival but I feel the right approach is leaving the choice up to the buskers. If the buskers are left alone to go about their usual business - they may have some money to contribute to festival funds and be in the mood to do this.

The non-musical street traders are a different issue all together and it would be a shame if action to deal with these and to make folk pay to enter the festival area to get their nick-nacks and hair braided by traders who have paid the festival organisers - were to affect the music making and general atmosphere in any way.