A Greek Fest insider, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk on the record, gives a firsthand account of the violence Saturday night that prompted the festival to close early and reopen Sunday without carnival rides.
Friday was a complete success for GreekFest. Fantastic crowds, people of ALL races enjoying the great weather, food rides and fellowship with their fellow citizens. There were zero incidents and the closing at 11:00pm was peaceful and uneventful.
Saturday began with the same spirit of family fun and enjoyment. As the hour of 6:00pm approached, groups of unattended teens began entering the grounds, gravitating to the midway. These groups were not spending money on rides or food but were just walking around on their cell phones and actually getting in the way of the families who were trying to get on rides with their children.
At approximately 6:30pm a decision was made by GreekFest to close ticket sales at 7:30pm and the midway at 9:00pm as the number of unattended youths was increasing. One could feel the tension mounting. Several families even approached the police to tell them they were feeling uncomfortable and could they please do something about the groups of youth just standing around. At 7:45 teens began tipping over garbage cans and stealing ride tickets from the midway ticket booths. A short time later a fight between two groups broke out directly in front of the police who were patrolling the grounds. As arrests were being made, several people began screaming and began to run to the food area and main entrance causing panic on the grounds. Thanks to the heroic, and I do mean heroic efforts of the police no one was injured. Thanks also to the presence of metal detectors at the entrance, no weapons were on the grounds, or I am certain there would have been a shooting.
GreekFest made a decision to close the midway on Sunday and to close at 6:00pm instead of 8:00pm which no doubt has financial implications for the parish and the two vendors. Sadly, this deprived many the opportunity to enjoy a Sunday afternoon of midway rides, all because certain elements of society have decided it is their right to be disruptive. Another example of a small percentage of the population ruining an event for the vast majority of law-abiding citizens.
The troublemakers were all black youth. Once again, another example of the black-on-black crime that is continually unaddressed by the media and most tragically by the people with power to do something about it. If this happened in the City of Milwaukee there would be another empty press conference with excuses made by the mayor and police chief downplaying the incident as "not part of GreekFest....insert Juneteenth Day, Cinco De Mayo etc..." and addressing the cause as misguided youth with no place to go. GreekFest, Juneteenth Day, St. John Vianny and other events have all provided a place for the community youth to gather in fellowship. Some youths do take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy these events, but sadly another segment of the youth decide that these events are an occasion to disrupt the fun for everyone else. Until they are called out for being the unruly, disruptive thugs that they are, nothing will change. Media and politicians will continue to make excuses for this behavior and the deviant behavior will continue.
I share this all with you in the hope that public discussion will eventually lead politicians and media to listen to and care for the law-abiding citizens rather than the fringe groups making excuse after excuse. The good citizens must DEMAND an end to this mentality or things will not change and will in fact deteriorate.