BERKLEY, Mich. (WXYZ) — After 98 years, the city of Berkley could be pulling the plug on Berkley Days as residents know it, with the city council now considering a ban on all carnivals.
The move comes after multiple fights between teenagers caused chaos two years in a row at the May event, sending families running and straining police resources. It hasn't been the only festival with safety issues in metro Detroit.
“I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed,” Berkley Days Association Co-chair Lesley Robbins said of the situation. "With all the hard work we put into this thing, to have stuff happen, nobody likes that.”
After fights shut down the 2023 Berkley Days, the event beefed up security with added fencing and security entrance checkpoints. But still, fights and panic broke out with Saturday night being shutdown early and three arrests happening just outside festival grounds.
Watch our May 2024 coverage of the event security and fighting below:
Similar incidents have happened all over metro Detroit, like one fight caught on camera last year in Dearborn Heights and just this month, a fight among teens at the State Fair in Novi left a 14-year-old shot dead.
“The last two years, it's been a trend," Robbin said. "It's happened here, it's happened in neighboring communities, the state fair, everywhere.”
Related video: Community mourns loss of teen killed outside Michigan State Fair
“It's becoming a concern to try to host these type of events with the security that’s needed,” Detective Lt. Andrew Hadfield with Berkley Public Safety said. "It's always been an event where you can drop off your kid and pick them up later, and parents don't feel that way anymore.”
Berkley Public Safety once staffed the event with two to four officers but last year had 41 officers at the event by nights end on Saturday. Sixteen had been staffed from Berkley, with 25 others called in from surrounding communities. It amounted to a total one-day cost of more than $13,000.
“If you have all hands on deck and issues get out of hand, you’re having to call in mutual aid, you're tapping into resources for your neighborhood communities," Hadfield said. "If any other emergency happens, that's a concern because everyone is tied up with juvenile fights at a carnival fair.”
A potential solution now being proposed to Berkley City Council is a citywide ban on all carnivals, effectively ending Berkley Days as its been known, shy of it’s 98th year.
Hadfield is a lifelong Berkley resident with fond memories of the traditional event, and says his kids also enjoy it today.
“Most people I know want to continue Berkeley Days the way it had been in the past, but a lot of people over the past two years are concerned,” Hadfield said. “It's sad to see because so many kids have grown up with this as part of their lives, and to see it end is kind of sad.”
Related video: Sterlingfest increases safety protocols, looks to learn from other brawl-filled festivals
Parents like Nikki Bruster, who went as a kid and has been bringing her kids for the last decade, is not in favor of closing down the event.
"It's really sad because it's taking something that’s time honored, that is a community event, that so many people work so hard for and that supports the community so well,” Bruster said. "Kids in school, going to a carnival, going to a grocery store, you don't have a guarantee anywhere anymore, and I don't think shutting it down or banning anything is going to be helpful either.”
While organizers do want to see an annual event continue, they also say something has to change.
“We don't want to see it go down this way, but we do have to understand what the trends are and this isn't going in a safe direction,” Hadfield said.
"Hopefully, there won't be a ban on festivals. It's just right now, it’s not a good idea,” Robbins said. “It's so hard to say because the carnival is my favorite part, but I think we have to reinvent at this point.”
The Berkley City Council is set to discuss this new proposal during their meeting on Monday at 7 p.m.
