Security is always an issue at the nation's art fairs with smaller events not having to pay much attention to it but the large ones that attract 100,000's of thousands of people beefing up their staff to insure the safety at their shows. When the Super Bowl was in Detroit a few years back I was on the staff and went to a meeting with not only local police but FBI, Homeland Security and border patrol officials speaking to us and briefing us on what to do. It was very sobering.
Texas' big show the Fort Worth Main Street Festival is taking place this weekend in the shadow of Monday's tragic occurrences in Boston. Festival organizers surely had their load increased in preparation for the event as they redoubled their security plans. The Fort Worth Police Department is deploying additional uniformed and undercover officers, as well as bomb-detecting K9 units, to areas in and around all large public events, said a city news release.
Suggestions that will be helpful to artists not only this weekend but going forward:
The release recommended signing up for a free service at www.nixle.com, where the Fort Worth Office of Emergency Management warns of natural or manmade emergencies in the area with texts and/or email.
Festival guests are asked to follow Homeland Security's caution: "If you see something, say something."
But because it's a free festival with 20 points of access, monitoring what people bring into it would be difficult, said spokeswoman Clair Bloxom.
"If someone saw a person leave a backpack at an artist's booth, you'd definitely want to report that to a police officer," she said. "We're encouraging people not to bring backpacks."
Guests also are asked not to bring coolers, said Jay Downie, event producer.
"If you bring a bag, keep it on your person," he said. "Any unattended bag will be confiscated."
