Don’t blow it
After three days of what was mostly innocent summer fun earlier this month, it was disappointing to read all of the police reports about the fights at this year’s Abby Festival. Most of the squabbles were in the downtown area — fueled by alcohol and bad blood — but there was also an assault at the soccer tournament.
Unfortunately, these incidents marred an otherwise entertaining and family-friendly event. As it has in the past few years, Abby Festival allows Abbotsford to celebrate its diversity and bring together residents and visitors who are looking for a great way to kick off the summer.
However, when the sun sinks below the horizon and people’s blood-alcohol level rises above the legal limit, problems emerge. Police chief Jason Bauer bluntly pointed this out at Monday night’s police commission meeting, calling the scene downtown “absolute chaos” at some points. Still, he also noted that the overwhelming majority of festival-goers were well-behaved and not involved in brawling.
We trust that his comments will kick off a muchneeded discussion about security and safety at future Abby Festivals. Our only hope is that city officials do not overreact to the situation and end up smothering an event that has a lot of potential to continue growing and bringing more people to our downtown at the start of summer.
With that said, we’re more than a little concerned about an idea that was tossed around during Monday’s discussion. Mayor Jim Weix, who raised legitimate concerns about downtown access for fire trucks and ambulances during the busier times of the festival, suggested moving the carnival rides to the parking lot of the East Town Mall. Although it would serve the purpose of offering more open space for the rides, we think it could be a crowd-killer in the future.
Having the midway and food vendors downtown — surrounded on all sides by residential areas — is an ideal situation for a community festival. Many residents are within walking distance, and several businesses on First Street can take advantage of the increased foot traffic. Pushing the festivities to the outskirts of the city, far removed from many people’s homes, could hurt attendance and deprive downtown businesses of readily available customers.
Nevertheless, something still needs to be done to prevent a repeat or an escalation of the problems at this year’s event. If bar owners and festival organizers want to continue having the event downtown, they need to be actively engaged in whatever conversations the city council has about the future of the event. This may mean that more security needs to be hired in the future or that live music and other nighttime activities need to be shut down earlier. Before next year’s event, there also needs to be a public safety discussion among police, firefighters, EMTs, business owners and others to head off any potential problems.
The organizers and participants of any event need to realize that blocking off traffic on a public street, setting up carnival rides and serving alcohol in public is a privilege, not a right. It can be revoked at any time if the public and their elected officials decide it’s not worth the hassle. Ultimately, it will take some collective action to make sure Abby Festival continues the way it has been over the past few years. It comes down to a multitude of individuals making smart decisions, like trying to peacefully remove someone who’s had too much to drink from a beer tent or bar before they start any problems. Or keeping people apart if they are known to have a pre-existing beef.
Other area events, including Dorchester Days and Cheese Days, have had similar issues in the past, but they’ve lasted for decades because they dealt with those issues head on. Ten years from now, we hope the same can be said for the Abby Festival.
The Tribune-Phonograph editorial board consists of publisher Kris O’Leary and editor Kevin O’Brien
