Time to evaluate Birmingham Village Fair

The city of Birmingham is at a crossroads regarding the longtime Village Fair, held for the last 60 years the last weekend of May/the first weekend of June in Shain Park and surrounding streets. Although it isn't directly the fault of the city, massive fights and disruptions by teens who have come into the downtown area the last two years during the fair have caused fallout that the city – and the Birmingham City Commission, which provides the permit for the Village Fair, and Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber, which sponsors it – must deal with, before more serious injury, or even a fatality, occurs.

For 60 years residents of the Birmingham and Bloomfield area, and their children, as well as those from surrounding communities, have looked forward to the arrival each spring of the Birmingham Village Fair which promises four days of fun activities, as well as memories. The Birmingham Village Fair is hosted by the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce (BBCC) each year in the Shain Park area of the city. The event is the major fundraiser for the business group which devotes considerable time and energy to provide the community with a fun and safe event that the entire family can enjoy. Last year, BBCC President Joe Bauman told us that local non-profit groups each year get about $20,000 from the chamber’s fair proceeds. The BBCC spends about $20,000 each year for police and fire department presence at the event, with somewhere between eight-14 officers present at any time, including some volunteer officers.

For years, the fair stayed open until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings, and has been a fun activity for not only families but teens to hang out. The fair is billed as primarily a family event, and those with young children typically have left by 6:30 or 7 p.m., leaving the games and rides to the teens, who are largely unsupervised.

Last year, several reported physical confrontations occurred. The most concerning event – which was caught on surveillance cameras and numerous phone videos – was a beatdown that took place on Saturday evening at about 10 p.m. on Henrietta Street near W. Maple, involving male students from Brother Rice and Seaholm. Several males attacked a Seaholm student, who police described as someone trying to diffuse tension between two groups. The attackers continued to beat and kick him once he fell to the ground.

Charges were brought against some students, but that didn't stop two horrific fights from breaking out this year on the evening of Friday, May 30, where five teens, two boys and three girls, where taken into custody and another landed in the hospital. The fights spilled out onto Merrill Street and Henrietta and Maple streets – technically just outside the jurisdiction of the Village Fair. From videos, it appears police were totally outmanned and had difficulty getting the crowds under control.

A city commissioner this past year raised concern that if the fair shuts down at 6 p.m. when families leave, the teens would disperse to the streets of Birmingham. Well, they already are. Yes, kids need someplace to go and hang out. We all did – but there is a distinct difference between peaceful recreation and wild hoodlums. Sadly, some of the teenagers fall into the latter category, and are ruining it for everyone.

Birmingham is not the only municipality facing out of control visitors. As we noted last year in this space, St. Mary’s annual Polish Country Fair was cancelled because of teen violence and threats on social media, as has Berkley Days, where for two consecutive years teen gangs descended to settle their disputes.

The problem facing Birmingham is it is now one of the last remaining events of this nature and is likely to draw even more teens from a much larger area in the future.

While we understand that this has been a significant moneymaker for the chamber of commerce, Village Fair and several local nonprofits the BBCC supports, something must be done to prevent the teen violence of the last two years – whether it is a serious increase in police officers, or even further reduced fair hours, for example.

We notice that the BBCC on social media has started a campaign asking local businesses to appear in videos to promote the Village Fair and its benefits to the local business community. The chamber of commerce must be anticipating complaints and questions we are already receiving. But a public relations effort is the last thing we need.

Let’s have a serious review of the problems of the Village Fair – not next spring but immediately while this year’s event is still fresh in everyone’s mind.

We don’t believe that the city should delegate the task of finding a solution to just the chamber of commerce and police officials, an approach that did not work this year. The city commission needs to hold a work session or two to discuss the Village Fair and under what conditions it can continue.

The city would expect nothing less from any other major event before it issues another permit.