WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - Williamsville's Old Home Days Festival is underway but there are different rules when it comes to a certain age group.
You see plenty of restriction signs for Williamsville's Island Park. But now add these new policies for teens for the Old Home Days Festival. They are not allowing backpacks for those under the age of 18. And the big one...no one under 16 after 6 PM unless accompanied by an adult. These changes stem from complaints the past few years about underage drinking, unruly behavior and worse according to festival organizers. Rick Brown, the festival chairman says "There were some fights. There were kids that come on and once they started to drink...again they just were getting pretty unruly. And people that were coming on with kids, couldn't get by them to get to the ticket booth or just didn't want to get in the middle of it."
It's a potential image problem that they want to correct in the limited park space especially right near the entrance bridge. Another Home Days Committee member Dave Mischler says "It'll be solid teenagers..it's hard for a family to come in and little kids are intimidated when everybody's shoulder to shoulder." And carnival employee Tori Offerman says "They actually were shaking the fence to the ferris wheel and chanting like curse words at our carneys."
And some parents with little ones who wanted to ride the rides and enjoy the festival did notice as Betsy Hendricks says "Last year especially I noticed a lot more teens and kids gathering at the entrance and it did seem a little difficult to get past that."
Festival organizers say they need the adults to spend because many of those gathering teens do not..This event raises funds for scholarships and youth activities in Williamsville through the Jolly Boys Association. Of course this won't sit well with all...especially teens. Nicole Stuber says "I think it's kind of unfair that there's an age restriction. And because a lot of people aren't going this year...so I think they're gonna lose a lot of money because of it."
Amherst Police say they really didn't want to be interviewed for this story because they won't be the ones enforcing these rules. That's up to the security guards hired by the Jolly Boys Association. But of course police will be ready to jump in if there's any violence of criminal behavior.
