Naperville’s Last Fling will look a little different this year, according to the event’s organizers, who announced new admission policies on Monday.
This year, anyone under the age of 18 will not be allowed into the event unless they are accompanied by a guardian who is 25 or older. One guardian can supervise up to five minors. IDs will be checked at the entrances, and any minors found unsupervised will be escorted out of the event.
Organizers have also implemented a clear bag policy for patrons. While small clutch purses are allowed, bigger bags must be see-through and no larger than 12 x 6 x 12, approximately the size of a standard laptop bag or a small tote bag.
“This doesn’t relate to bags that come with medical conditions, or diaper bags. [Those] will be searched when they come in because we wanna make sure that we do allow for certain things coming into our event. We want to make sure the families do feel comfortable,” said Danielle Tufano, co-director of Last Fling.
Lastly, all patrons are also subject to metal detector screenings this year. It’s all in line with the Naperville Police Department’s safety recommendations for large events.
Last Fling co-director discusses working with city to make safety changes
Tufano explained that organizers worked closely with city officials to implement the changes to the event coming up on Labor Day weekend.
“We trust their opinion that this one great step to help keep our event safe and fun in the future, so we definitely took their suggestion seriously and worked with them to make sure that we could keep our event fun and welcoming while also keeping it safe,” said Tufano.
According to Police Chief Jason Arres, their recommendations are nothing new and some have existed at events over the years, like fencing around location perimeters. However, he says they are becoming more and more important.
“It is proven that they act as deterrents to someone that may be considering doing something harmful to a community. So, we’re going to always stay at the forefront of securing our festivals….We take protecting this community very seriously,” said Arres.
India Day celebration to only feature parade this year
Last week, organizers of the city’s India Day celebration, Indian Community Outreach, announced they would be scaling back the event to only feature a parade due to the cost of increasing safety measures.
Both the festival held on Rotary Hill and the evening concert are canceled.
“Requiring full park fencing, metal detectors, a clear bag policy, additional security layers, changes to cost-sharing and other significantly increased costs have created a significantly large financial burden exceeding $150,000,” said Indian Community Outreach chairman Krishna Bansal in a press release.
Bansal said the ICO is looking at ways to bring the full celebration to life again next year, including potentially seeking additional assistance from the city’s Special Events Community Arts Program, who provide some funding for the event.
Arres said that although the recommendations may not be ideal, they are necessary.
“Adding these barriers and these security measures are best practices for any event with mass amounts of people,” said Arres. “And that’s really what everybody should want, is the safest event so everybody can enjoy it,” he said.
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