This weekend's Second Saturday Art Walk will end a little earlier and see an increased police presence, one month after a fatal shooting rocked Sacramento's central city.

While art galleries and other businesses taking part in the event can stay open, the city is now requiring them to stop serving alcohol under Second Saturday special event permits at 9:30 p.m. Previously, permits for the monthly special event set a 10 p.m. closing time.

Vendors operating on public sidewalks are also being asked to close down, although they aren't regulated with permits yet. Vendors selling wares on private property can stay open later. Restaurants and bars operating under regular licenses aren’t impacted.

This Saturday, the city will focus enforcement of the 9:30 p.m. closing on outside music — amplified sound by bands and DJs — as part of an effort to get teens under 18 home by the 10 p.m. curfew and cut down on crowds and congestion after the art walk, said Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn.

"The thing that would be most noticeable to visitors is it will end early," said Cohn, whose district includes the Midtown neighborhood where the shooting occurred. "We think that'll help keep the kids from mixing with the late night crowd."

The change was agreed to on Tuesday by consensus of a safety team that meets regularly to discuss the Second Saturday event.

The team includes police, the city manager's office, code enforcement, neighborhood services and the Midtown Business Association, and more recently, the mayor's office and Cohn's office. The team has met twice since the shooting. Cohn also held a community forum on the shooting on Sept. 25.

Homicide detectives are working to identify the suspect who gunned down Victor Hugo Perez Zavala and injured three others in a gang confrontation early on Sept. 12. Three of the victims, including 24-year-old Zavala, were bystanders caught up in the shooting outside a Midtown bar after the Second Saturday Art Walk.

The Sacramento Police Department will send more uniformed and undercover officers to the event. Police on horses and bikes will also be used. Exact numbers won't be released until after Saturday, said department spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.

Last month, police arrested 17 minors for curfew violations and another 40 people, including business owners, for alcohol-related violations such as underage and public drinking, plus public intoxication and urination. Officers will continue to enforce those laws Saturday. They'll also be available to talk with anyone who has information that could help the investigation.

"We're still looking for more witnesses — some that may not have feel that they saw the shooting but may still have been in the area," Leong said.

Police plan to leave the intersection at J and 20th streets open. A block over, the intersection at K and 20th streets will have a temporary, four-way stop.

On Wednesday night, the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center, MBA and police held the first volunteer training for a new group of late-night courtesy guides dubbed the Lavender Angels. Training included instructions for observing and reporting crimes in progress.

"This is our contribution to keep people safe and keep them coming to our entertainment venues," said the center's director, Wendy Rae Hill.

On Saturday, MBA staff will monitor music sound levels using sound meters. They'll also invite street vendors to join a vendor working group this winter. The group is being set up to organize vendors and make them aware of regulations, said MBA Executive Director Rob Kerth.

No major changes are planned for the event in October or November, Cohn said.

Second Saturday doesn't officially shut down over the winter. But the event heads into low season from November or December through February or March, depending on the weather. City officials will use that time to discuss late-night issues and recommendations on how to manage the city's "social economy" from the Responsible Hospitality Institute and the community forum.

Any big changes in the way the Second Saturday Art Walk operates won't come out until spring, Cohn said.

“We didn't want to make, frankly, a huge change in reaction to the shootings because the shootings really had nothing to do with Second Saturday itself," he said. "You had some gang members that unfortunately decided to take their activities out into public and endanger bystanders. We decided we don't want to dramatically alter Second Saturday just because of that." 

Second Saturday art gallery photo by Ron Nabity. Second Saturday street photo by David Watts Barton.