Fayetteville officials said Monday they will begin strictly enforcing a clear bag policy for Festival Park events, after several city council members criticized staff for taking months to act on public safety directives issued following a shooting at the spring Dogwood Festival.
During an Oct. 6 work session, what began as a staff update on new security measures quickly turned tense as council members pressed city administrators over delays in carrying out the council’s May directives.
Those directives came after gunfire disrupted the 43-year-old Dogwood Festival in April—one of several high-profile incidents of gun violence in the city earlier this year.
Leading up to a special meeting called in early May, Mayor Mitch Colvin and the council called for stronger security measures, including a ban on masks and backpacks, expanded surveillance, and increased security and police presence at public events.
Senior Assistant to the City Manager Brook Redding told the council Monday that staff has since developed a four-tiered security matrix that scales precautions based on an event’s size and risk level. City staff have tested new protocols during summer events at Festival Park.
But council members said staff failed to follow through on one key element—a clear bag requirement that they had agreed to months earlier.
Council to staff: What’s taking so long?
Council member Kathy Jensen said she was frustrated that strict enforcement of the policy had still not begun. The policy mandates Festival Park event attendees only bring inside bags that are clear.
“What I’m concerned about is that we discussed this in May. We’re here in October,” Jensen said. “I just don’t understand why it takes six months to get a clear bag when everybody else is doing it.”
Redding responded that the city had introduced the policy but had been slow to enforce it to help “change behavior” among attendees. “It’s not that we haven’t implemented that policy,” Redding said. “It’s more that we haven’t strictly enforced it at the gate.”
At events like the Fourth of July celebration and September’s International Folk Festival, attendees were allowed to bring bags if they passed security screening.
Council member Derrick Thompson rejected the gradual approach.
“People will comply,” he said. “I go to football, baseball, basketball, hockey games not just in North Carolina, but across the United States, and I don’t know of one event that you can go to without having a clear bag—not one.”
City promises stricter enforcement
City Manager Doug Hewett acknowledged the misstep and pledged that the clear bag policy will be fully enforced at the upcoming Dogwood Fall Festival on Oct. 18-19.
“We thought that we were making great progress in implementing council’s intent,” Hewett said. “Clearly we missed the bag on the bag, and we will be happy to adjust that immediately.”
Council member Mario Benavente backed staff’s phased rollout, arguing that sudden restrictions can frustrate residents and discourage attendance. “I’ve seen folks say they’re never coming back to a Woodpeckers game because they didn’t know about the bag rule,” Benavente said.
“People are frustrated—they’re throwing their purses away because they don’t want to go back to their car. To me, there’s some logic behind phasing these things in so that people can learn.”
City spokesperson Loren Bymer confirmed in an email to CityView that “moving forward, strict adherence to a clear bag policy will be enforced.”
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com.
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