A carnival in downtown Dartmouth was abruptly shut down two hours early Monday night because of fights that broke out in the area.
The carnival was staged at Alderney Landing as part of the 2022 Busker Festival, which was extended to Dartmouth seafront this year and was meant to run until 10pm.
In a Facebook post shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, New Brunswick amusement ride business East Coast Amusements said Halifax Regional Police ordered them to close.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were ordered to close by Halifax police. (Gangs of kids fighting in parking lots),” the post read.
Nathan Smithers, manager of East Coast Amusements, said in an interview that it was disappointing the event ended this way.
“It’s unfortunate that they ruined the fun for everyone else,” he said. “We never want to have to do this to people … everything was going well, it was a good day, people were down there, there were a lot of people having fun.”
The post also clarified that neither trip was “completed,” a rumor that had been circulating on social media earlier.
Smithers said the rumor started when crews started pulling out the Zipper ride after one of the engines failed.
“They started tearing it down … some people had pictures of it and said the ride fell down,” he said.
“The police were not there because he fell, there was no problem in that way. We just had a ride that broke down and wasn’t going to work, so they started sharing it so they didn’t have to do it later.”
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He said East Coast Amusements has a strict no-refund policy on wristbands — which he said they don’t sell at 7 p.m. anyway — but said tickets never expire, so those who weren’t able to use tickets that bought, they can use them in the future. East Coast Fun Events.
He added that customers have mostly been very understanding about the situation.
“They realized it wasn’t something we chose to do,” Smithers said.
While Monday was the last night of the carnival at Alderney Landing, it will be on Main Street in Dartmouth between August 4 and 7.
In the statement, Nicolas Gagnon, acting public information officer for Halifax Regional Police, said police responded to Alderney Landing at 7:00 p.m. Monday after a report of “multiple fights between large groups of young people”.
“Officers arrived at the scene and broke up the fights without any incidents or injuries being reported,” he said, adding that two youths were arrested and charged with breach of duty.
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