5/17/2018
Kourtney Adams, WIFR

"We have 19 new vendors starting tomorrow, so that's kind of exciting on opening day. We also have an area under the pavilion that we've allocated for a little bit more standing room near the band, which is one of the requests that we get every year, that people want more space to kind of socialize," said Cathy McDermott, the Director of the Rock River Development Partnership. Rockford police officers say they're prepared to keep people safe. "It would be different if we had traditionally big problems with fights or other things. We'll always have people down there, so if people are going to go down there, we want them to feel safe. 99.9% of the time its good people that are down there, trying to enjoy themselves," said Assistant Deputy Chief Mike Dalke, with the Rockford Police Department. "We do hire private security as well, so it's really a safe place to be," said McDermott. The Rockford Police Department spreads its S.C.O.P.E. Team throughout the market. "Our greatest asset is our officer’s ability to mingle with the community, engage the community, and be walking in and out of the event. It's kind of a multi-prong approach, people on foot, people on bike and people in squad cars. At any given time if there's an emergency, we'll respond to it quickly and deal with the situation," said Dalke. City Market has seen between 7,000 to 8,000 people on opening night in past years. It runs from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Friday throughout the summer.


For More Information:
http://www.wifr.com/content/news/Rockford-prepares-for-City-Market-putting-securtiy-measures-in-place--482978431.html