The people who organize and police the events that draw large crowds around South Coast this summer all have the same answer to whether April's infamous Boston Marathon bomb blast on a crowded Boylston Street will affect their plans.
They're all saying it won't change a thing.
There won't necessarily be a larger police presence at Southcoast area events, Capt. Joseph Cordeiro, New Bedford Police station one commander, said, because the formula for how large of a police detail should attend an event goes by the number of people expected and the past history of trouble there.
"And we use our intelligence gathering," Cordeiro said. "We hear specific rumblings about something, we'll up the number of officers."
He said each year police routinely sit down with the event organizers to review what security plan, including number of detail officers, will be needed. Then that plan can be implemented in a couple of weeks.
"We will take any strategy we're given and put it in place before the event, and maybe a few extra precautions this year," he said.
Cordeiro's jurisdiction stretches from downtown, the site of the popular New Bedford Folk Music Festival, to Buttonwood Park, site of the Whaling City Festival that, according to its website, attracts 125,000 people, 200 flea market and craft vendors and 26 food vendors every summer.
"Locally clearly our officers are in heightened sensors mode," Cordeiro said. "But we're always in that mode anyhow. Events like these, they heighten our senses. Our senses will be heightened."
“See something, say something”
He asks that people attending these events help them but also enjoy themselves. "We want people to enjoy themselves but be observant," he said. "The last thing we want is for people to not attend. We need folks to be our eyes and ears, be extremely vigilant. We don't have the resources to have an officer on every corner. So if you see something out of the ordinary, say something right away. It's the best way to stop something big from happening."
He is happy to note people organizing and attending New Bedford's summer events are very cooperative. "It's been great working with them," he said.
Park Superintendent Jennifer T. Nersesian echoes the cooperative effort. "We don't have law enforcement officers on staff," she said. "We work in concert with New Bedford police; let them know all that we are planning. We work very cooperatively with them."
The New Bedford Folk Music Festival, previously known as Summerfest, draws the biggest crowds every summer, she said, but other summer events downtown will include concerts in the Park Service garden on Thursday nights and the monthly AHA nights that draw people downtown for free offerings of New Bedford's art, history and architecture.
She said there are no plans to change or cancel any event out of security concerns. "We're looking forward to a great summer," she said. "It's business as usual. There'll be nothing different that anyone will notice."
The New Bedford Folk Festival's artistic director Alan Korolenko said the event, now in its 18th year, draws around 20,000 people per year. That is counting those who purchase wristbands to attend the concerts and those who stroll along the cobblestone streets dotted by craft and food vendor tents.
This year, the festival will be unable to use Custom House Square for one of its seven stages because of the park construction there, he said. Instead, the festival's main stage will be at the Ziterion Theatre.
While this large indoor venue could create a special security challenge, Korolenko too said there will be no plan changes out of security concerns.
"We're the same festival," he said. "We're just calling it something more descriptive."
In the Wareham area, summer brings a long list of events at Onset Bay, from the Onset-Wareham Fireworks display on July 6 to the Summer of Love concert series every Wednesday night from June 26 to Aug. 29. Wareham's 15th annual Swan Festival will draw crowds to downtown streets on July 9.
Lt. Kevin Walsh of the Wareham Police Department promises the same level of police presence and security as always.
"We will do, as in the past what's called for," Walsh said. "If we hear anything specific happening, then we will do what we need to do to respond. Nothing is going to change. We will deal with this year as we've dealt with the past years."
Whaling City Festival Committee second vice-president Steven Ponte said this year's event will be different but people who attend should feel secure.
"Our committee members and volunteers will be more aware," Ponte said. "We'll be looking more closely for things left behind and at areas where people don't usually congregate. We will work more closely with the police department and take their lead and ask everyone there to be more aware. The same extra precautions we took after 9/11. People who attend this year should feel totally secure."
