Tulsa Police IMPACT Team Working Overtime To Keep Mayfest Safe

The executive director of Mayfest says that they have different emergency plans in place in case there's severe weather or even a possible armed intruder but for the most part, they just have extra security to make sure everyone is safe.

“We’ve found that we can shut down in about 5 to 10 minutes. it happens very quickly,” said Heather Pingry the Executive Director of Mayfest. Pingry says, for the most part, the festival is usually very calm, but they do have extra officers on hand to help. They know this site inside and out and they know what to look for and who to look for and I have my complete trust in them."

John Hammer is a painter who has featured his work at Mayfest for several years now and he says his tent is always prepared in case of emergency.

“I have some wood underneath my paintings to keep them off the ground just in case. I’ve got these side rails that are trellises that are very heavy and some water barrels and stuff so there’s no way that this tent is going somewhere and if it does then we are all going somewhere," said Hammer.

If a storm were to roll through or if there would be a situation that prompted a closure at Mayfest, Vendors like Hammer would get a text alert to inform them about the situation.

The Tulsa Police IMPACT unit focuses on crime inside the IDL and they are working extra hours this weekend to make sure everyone stays safe.

“Its usually small stuff that we have to deal with but its just stuff that we have to take care of because we want the rest of the people downtown to have a great time,” said Officer Robby Bowman. “That way they don't have to come in and do so much downtown, we can free them up to go and take care of the rest of Tulsa"

Because having extra eyes inside the festival from the IMPACT unit can free up other officers to focus on crime outside of downtown...

Mayfest will be open tonight until 11 and will open back up at 11 am tomorrow.  Bluedome closes for the night at 10 and will be back open at 11 am tomorrow as well.