State Fairgrounds Limit Access Following Attacks

8/6/11 – Young people under the age of 18 are no longer allowed onto the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds after 5pm without a parent or guardian who is at least 21. Fair CEO rick Frenette says he has never implemented such a policy before in his 40 years of fair management. That change, plus the increase in security forces, comes in response to opening night violence that left 11 people injured and 31 arrested. The trouble started at about 7 p.m. Thursday when fights broke out among black youths. State Fair Police say those fights didn’t appear to be racially-motivated. A few hours later, around the 11 p.m. closing time, witnesses say hundreds of black youths attacked white people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking or pounding on their vehicles. Seven of the people injured were police officers.