St. Louis police, private security on hand for Cherokee St. Cinco de Mayo Festival
ST. LOUIS – A variety of St. Louis police officers and private security contractors will be on hand for this weekend’s Cinco de Mayo Festival on Cherokee Street.
Security plans follow large growth of the festival over the last several years. They also come after police responded to two shootings on Cherokee Street on the weekend of the festival, one which happened as the festival was wrapping up activities for the day.
Charles Wall with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department says this is the second consecutive year that the department has set forth a security operations plan around the event, in part due to its growing size.
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Wall says there will be a myriad of officers on hand for the festival, but did not disclose how many.
“We’ll be pulling officers from our traffic safety divisions, some of our investigative units, our bomb and arson units will be there. We’ll have plenty of officers on foot and in vehicles in the area for extra visibility and extra security,” said Wall during a virtual SLMPD crime briefing on Wednesday.
He adds that there will be designated check-in locations for guests to enter footprints.
Festival organizers have also coordinated with a private security company to offer additional support.
“You’ll see an increased presence of uniform personnel there to include security for the event to make it safe and enjoyable for all of those who attend,” said Wall.
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Daily News
The Cherokee Street Cinco de Mayo Festival will take place Saturday, May 4, on the eve of the holiday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
More than 100 vendors set up along six blocks of Cherokee Street, offering food, drinks and family-friendly activities in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The activities will take place on Cherokee Street from Nebraska to Jefferson avenues.
The festival also includes artists, a mechanical bull, Lucha Libre wrestling, and two entertainment stages. The event is free for anyone to attend. For more information, click here.
NOTE: Video is from FOX 2’s report of an arrest around one of last year’s shootings on Cherokee Street.
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