City of South Bend staff and volunteers have worked for months on this weekend’s Fusion Fest, and they say they’re confident they can avoid the kind of violence and disorder that ended its predecessor.
The city’s calling the event, which happens Saturday and Sunday at Howard Park, a reimagined Ethnic Festival.
City leaders held a press conference Tuesday at the park to express their excitement and to update the community on details.
Fusion Fest will celebrate and showcase the area’s ethnic and cultural diversity, with food and craft vendors, music, activities and rides.
The city ended the event in the early 2000s because of fights and unruly crowds that would form toward the end of the night. Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski, who recalled attending his first Ethnic Festival at age 10, said festival goers will see a lot of police, and there will be more dressed in plain clothes.
Weapons will not be allowed. Entrance to the park will be limited to two spots and security guards will use a magnetometer there to check people for weapons.
Mayor James Mueller said violence is a risk worth taking.
“Of course we can never guarantee any outcome but we feel that we’re well-prepared, better prepared than in the past,” Mueller said. “We need to be able to have these types of events where we come together.”
