The State Fair of Texas starts on Friday and there’s a new policy parents need to know.
Under the new policy, starting at 5 p.m. daily, all minors aged 17 and younger must be accompanied by a parent, guardian, or chaperone who's 21 or older when entering the fair.
State fair officials will be enforcing the policy at all entrances.
“We will advise them real quick that there’s a policy that they may not be aware of it and then we’ll just simply ask them how old they are and if they’re 17 or younger then we’ll just share with them that they’re ineligible to come into the park at that time,” said Cotner.
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Once inside the fair, the adult is not required to stay with the minors. State fair officials said there’s no way to monitor that once people are inside but added that's why a full staff of officer from Dallas, DISD and DART police will be on site to keep watch and make sure everyone is safe.
Additionally, chaperones can accompany no more than six minors.
“Institutions or fairs that have implemented this type of policy have seen a reduction in disturbances, fights, where they've had to eject people from the park,” said Jeff Cotner, director of security for the State Fair of Texas.
The new policy is partly the result of an incident last October.
Officials say a group of teenagers near the food hall began shouting false claims that there was a shooter, trying to create chaos.
“That elicited a response, a fear response, which unfortunately in this country, our citizens are conditioned to that,” said Cotner.
It set off a chain reaction of people scrambling toward exits, Cotner said, injuring several people who were trampled.
The policy isn't the only new safety measure this year.
Everyone will now walk through a weapons detection system at all fair park gates, which detects dense metal like knives or guns. It is designed not sound the alarm on cellphones or other common metal items so it won't slow down the process to get in. No weapons of any kind are permitted on the fairgrounds.
Changes have also been made in the area where the melee began last year. A police stand has been added to the entrance of the food hall so two police officers can look over the crowds, and a new security camera has been added near the food hall entrance, too.
More than 60 surveillance cameras are also in use around the fairgrounds.
"We want everybody to come here and have a fair-friendly opportunity across the board," said Cotner.
For more information on the policies at the State Fair of Texas, click here.
