Shrimp Festival...same but Different!

The pirates invade....we all have a great time. What is different now? I've lived here all my life. I remember a smaller festival without quite as much traffic, trash and I remember Shrimp Boats and the shrimping industy, which was the heart of the festival.

The shrimping industry needs our attention. The shrimp festival is all well and good. I do think instead of growing a festival that stretches the limit of the downtown area, we need to think of refocusing part of it to try to make shrimping more a part of what originally was all about, at least in my view as a child, the heart of the town and boat captains who were proud of their way of life.

What changes would I like to see and do I think make the most sense for this festival and coming festivals?

1) A curfew for all and control underage children who are left to wander downtown until sometimes 10 or 12PM. No children under the age of 16 unaccompanied after 6PM and no children under 13 at all if not accompanied by a parent or guardian. Leaving your kids out to roam a festival like this is not reasonable behavior at that age.
2) A limit on the maximum size of the festival. We don't need and aren't able to handle bigger, but we sure can improve year after year.
3) A refocus back on art and food, not on rides and entertainment. This isn't a carnival, it is or should be a celebration of the shrimping industry and local crafts and food.
4) A limitation or careful discussion of corporate sponser and how to keep sponsorships from deviating from the theme of the festival.
5) More and better ways of controlling litter during and after the festival.
6) Dealing with public intoxication...this was an issue in my view last year.
7) Protecting the business and property owners from vandalism like the vandalism I experienced last year.
6) Did I say "curfew"! We had teens wandering downtown unsupervised until after midnight last year. My building was vandalized and I asked one group of 10 to 12 teens to leave my deck and the roof of the adjoining building 3 times. The were climbing on top of the adjoining buildings urinating into the courtyard of one business and sitting on another. My downspout gutters were bent from the climbing activity and a number of deck supports were kicked out. I didn't press charges because the police were stretched thin and it took an hour or more to find someone mid afternoon on Sunday.

We need to be aware that the festival is in a planned commercial area that was not built to accomodate this kind of traffic. Our town was not designed for the traffic and we typically don't have a police force large enough or enough ambulances if there is ever an emergency. I recommend a serious look at the size of the festival, content of the festival which should more closesly adhere to the original version and a curfew for all non-residents and non vendors...at say 10PM?