What Happened At The Oktoberfest Carnival Rides?

People are talking about the closing of the carnival rides at Oktoberfest on
Saturday night.  Here's the scoop:



La Mesa Police got word that a disturbance was being planned to happen at La
Mesa Oktoberfest.  It was out of town kids that decided to create a little chaos
in La Mesa.  They used  social media to get the word out and kids showed up in
droves.  LMPD was on high alert and well prepared for the situation.



At about 8pm the kids all ran toward the carnival rides.  A text had been sent
that a skuffle was about to start and the kids were the signal for police.  LMPD
squashed it before anything happened.  No injuries, no property damage, no
problems.  Then about 9pm the kids all ran toward the fountain area of the La
Mesa Plaza, apparently another text went out that a skuffle was going to happen
in that area.  LMPD again squashed it immediately.



It was at this point that LMVMA's Oktoberfest manager, Richard Felix made the
call to close down the carnival rides in an effort to move the kids along.



Finally at 10pm La Mesa's curfew gave LMPD the opportunity to remove all the
kids under 18 years of age and the problem was gone.



To be clear, it wasn't the carnival rides that attracted the problem, it was
this 'planned disturbance' that brought all the kids here.


LMVMA takes this situation very seriously and plans are underway to prevent this
type of problem at future events.  You can anticipate a new face on the 40th
Oktoberfest.  Just wait and see.