Boone County Fair using weapons-detection system loaned by Columbia Public Schools
Erika McGuire
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The first night of the Boone County Fair kicked off Tuesday evening with the use of a weapons detection systems loaned by Columbia Public Schools.
CPS loaned the fair a total of four systems and two-to-four will be used depending on the day and volume of fair goers. It’s an upgrade from last year when the fair used hand held weapon scanners that took time away from fair goers.
Boone County Fair President Matt Lewis said safety is a top priority and the process is to get in with the walk-through systems is simple.
“Knowing what’s going on with big events we decided safety was going to a big priority to us this year,” Lewis said. “So when they get there this year, they’ll go through the gate, walk down and go through the first scanner. As long as everything is clear, they’ll go right into the fair. If there’s any detection, they’ll go through a secondary scanner,”
Fair organizers say the change will make getting into the fair quicker and more efficient—especially after an incident last year that raised safety concerns.
“We had a little incident last year and after that we decided to step up our security measures and so we reached out to CPS and we were able to get body scanner to prevent stuff that happened in the past,” Lewis said.
The fair last year amended safety measures the third day of the event after an “incident with youth” occurred. Previous reporting shows that a “scuffle” occurred between two attendees, but vendors told ABC 17 News at the time that police handled the situation and the youth were allowed to leave.
Lewis said a private company will operate the weapons detection system each night of the fair, which runs through Saturday from 5-10 p.m. each night at 5212 Oakland Gravel Road.
Columbia police officers and Citadel Security will also be on site to provide extra security.
Fair Manager Jessie Kempf said the fair expects between 10,000-15,000, guests so lines could forum at the gate but the visitors can help speed things up.
“We’ll do our best to get people through and if visitors can make it easy for us by following those no backpacks and clear bag guidelines that would help us out as well,” Kempf said.
Clear bags no larger than 6-by-12 inches are allowed, along with diaper bags and medical bags. But coolers and backpacks are not allowed, and there’s no re-entry once you leave.
The Boone County Fair must return the four weapons detection systems to CPS by Sunday.