07-02-2006, 09:51 AM
Last night I worked security at the Naperville Ribfest. I'm sure some of you have prolly attended this thing before, right?
Well, everyone who has been knows that this event keeps getting more and more popular, and last night with REO Speedwagon playing the main stage, it was getting crowded at 4:00pm.
It came to be that the organizers needed to make a call on the safe limit of the park, and were forced to close the gates to all guests arouns 7:15pm.
Now the fun begins.
People just keep on coming because they have no way of knowing, unless they listen to the River radio station....so hundreds, if not thousands more people arrive and have to be turned around. Even people with prepaid tickets from Jewel Foods.
Now the REAL fun begins.
The rational people frown and hang their heads and leave.
The drunk people start to argue.
The wealthy people start to try to talk their way in.
The kids start to jump and break down crowd control fences.
The stubbon people start a stand-in at the gates and yell at the police about letting them in when others exit.
This all goes on for the better part of 2 hours.
It amazes me that people can't understand and accept the concept that when a general admission event, with limited space, is full theat it must be shutdown for safety reasons. They argue, they swear, they make creative excuses, they claim they work here, they have a friend, they are off duty cops, they are military, they are diabetic and need food.....on and on and on.
I need abusiness where people line up by hundreds of thousands (yes! 250,000 attended yesterday) and pay $8 a head to pay more for expensive food and drinks!
My advice to y'all...if you are going to Ribfest in the next few days...LEAVE EARLY AND GET PREPAID TICKETS FROM JEWEL, IF YOU CAN.
Well, everyone who has been knows that this event keeps getting more and more popular, and last night with REO Speedwagon playing the main stage, it was getting crowded at 4:00pm.
It came to be that the organizers needed to make a call on the safe limit of the park, and were forced to close the gates to all guests arouns 7:15pm.
Now the fun begins.
People just keep on coming because they have no way of knowing, unless they listen to the River radio station....so hundreds, if not thousands more people arrive and have to be turned around. Even people with prepaid tickets from Jewel Foods.
Now the REAL fun begins.
The rational people frown and hang their heads and leave.
The drunk people start to argue.
The wealthy people start to try to talk their way in.
The kids start to jump and break down crowd control fences.
The stubbon people start a stand-in at the gates and yell at the police about letting them in when others exit.
This all goes on for the better part of 2 hours.
It amazes me that people can't understand and accept the concept that when a general admission event, with limited space, is full theat it must be shutdown for safety reasons. They argue, they swear, they make creative excuses, they claim they work here, they have a friend, they are off duty cops, they are military, they are diabetic and need food.....on and on and on.
I need abusiness where people line up by hundreds of thousands (yes! 250,000 attended yesterday) and pay $8 a head to pay more for expensive food and drinks!
My advice to y'all...if you are going to Ribfest in the next few days...LEAVE EARLY AND GET PREPAID TICKETS FROM JEWEL, IF YOU CAN.