Crowd Control 101: City Barricades for Events

If you’re a city employee working on the colossal tasks of event planning and community organizing, you know that it can be easy to get lost in all the information and details that come with said tasks. That’s where OTW comes in! As veterans in facilitating safety at city events, we’re here to make your job easier when it comes to the safety of your city for events (and even in daily life!).

OTW Safety partners with thousands of cities across the United States to aid in implementing effective crowd control at city-wide events. We’ve rounded up our most helpful tips for planning and executing public events like parades, farmer’s markets, marathons, and more. Read on to discover why so many cities and organizations trust OTW for the most effective safety solutions for any event they might be planning.   

Streamline your crowd control efforts and maximize their effectiveness with our expert tips

For any event

In our opinion, the first step in planning any event should be researching and nailing down appropriate safety measures for your venue. These measures can apply to various genres of events and will help ensure your event runs as smoothly as possible.  

• First, consider local regulations. 

If you’re unsure of where to start, approach your local safety manager (if your city has one), or visit your county website for details. As regulations vary by state, county, and town, you’ll need to discover what permits, etc, will apply to your specific type of event to plan it effectively. 

And, if you need a little more help than that, OTW Production Services is happy to be of assistance. From permits to insurance to attendees to performers, and (of course) to safety, our productions services team uses a comprehensive approach to help you create your best event yet. 

• Signpost everything to avoid injury, technical issues, etc.

Appropriately placed signage is everything at events! You’ll want to indicate where attendees and participants can find restrooms, where wheelchair-accessible entrances are, and outline the best paths through a venue, etc. Best practice is using sturdy holders and durable signage that stands out indoors and will last in all weather outside – this is where OTW Billboard Barricades and custom signage shine! 

• Create different tiered tickets.

If large enough of an event, tiered tickets for timed entry might help you break up heavy streams of traffic. Permitting guests to enter at specific times throughout the day or evening will decrease traffic flow and make entering the venue much safer.

• Consider individual or vehicle security screening.

Setting up a screening station can help ensure that dangerous, illegal, or simply prohibited items are kept out of venues. Any person who enters the venue should be subject to screening and/or possible search, whether guest, contractor, employee, or performer. Vehicle inspections can be useful for the same reasons, as well as ensuring that individuals aren’t trying to sneak into the venue. 

Most commonly, you’ll find this type of security at large concerts at arenas and stadiums, or at festivals and venues where thousands of people will be congregated in one place. As seen at the Utah Arts Fest, our vehicle and pedestrian gate adapter is the perfect fit for this type of checkpoint, as it secures your entrances and exits and helps your security team consolidate areas that need coverage. 

• Pre-plan assembly, disassembly, and clean-up

Ensure that you have a big enough team to efficiently set up and break down all aspects of your event. If you have limited hands available, consider using items/products that make this process easier. Our favorite safety product for this (and most) crowd control situation is our pedestrian barricade – its HDPE construction is lightweight with foldable feet and is easy to set up, break down, and store.

• Have a complete emergency plan.

While nobody wants bad things to happen at their event, it’s best to plan for the worst and have a complete plan ready to go in case of an emergency. Use our Cheat Sheet to Live Event Safety to help you get started. 

• Designate alcohol-friendly or no-alcohol spaces.

This won’t apply to every event, but it’s a good idea to define areas that do or do not allow alcohol. Restricting drinking to designated alcohol-friendly spaces (especially at events with younger attendees) can help cut down on consumption, minimize intoxication, and keep everyone safe.

Main Street/downtown events

While they are possible year-round, when the summer heat and beautiful weather rolls in, outdoor events often become the go-to for many cities. Using the outdoors as the venue of choice usually means there is more space for people to gather, but it also can come with more challenges for crowd control. 

Parades

Parades can be a logistical challenge due to many (literally) moving parts. Vehicles and floats must have a route mapped out, while spectators must have a safe space to watch. To ensure optimal safety, provide route maps to all involved, including spectators. This will establish boundaries and hopefully keep pedestrians out of the parade path once it begins.   

If there’s a need for crowd fencing, you’ll need to ensure that your crowd barricades are stable and will not result in injuries. Extreme temperatures add to the equation, and you’ll need to consider whether metal barricades are the appropriate choice for very hot (or very cold!) weather. Burns can happen on both sides of the temperature spectrum, so choose crowd barriers that are safe to the touch!  

Parade safety in action:

For the perfect crowd barriers, OTW Safety provided festive yellow, orange, and green Billboard Barricades for the Hibernian Society of Utah’s St.Patty’s Day Parade. 

• Yellow barricades were used to designate vehicle-free streets. These barricade walls were attended by local police officers who slid the barricades left or right to admit permitted vehicles.
• Green and orange barricades were used to keep spectators out of harm’s way and delineate between sitting and standing areas. 

It was an enjoyable (and safe!) parade with a great turnout! 

Open Air Concerts

There’s no better way to draw a crowd than having an open-air concert downtown. The music, the community, the vibes – it all creates an incredible atmosphere for enjoying some local (or not-so-local) music.

As outdoor concert stages are most often built from the ground up, there are considerations and challenges that might not be faced indoors. Often, a perimeter must be defined, and streets need to be closed to vehicle traffic so that crowd management can be done as safely as possible. Security is generally needed in some capacity, and separation between attendee and performer is essential for safety. For performers and volunteers or staff, a backstage area can help ensure increased safety. Using crowd fencing to section off such an area for VIPs and authorized individuals helps guests know where they can and cannot go, and helps everyone know that their safety is of the utmost importance.

Open-air concert safety in action:

The city of Caney, Kansas, and the Caney Community Betterment Group Foundation (CCBGF) hosts its annual Fourth and Live Summer Concert Series each summer on their main downtown street. They spend nearly 18 hours setting up, executing, and tearing down every element to make the event happen and have everythingback to business the next day. The plans are streamlined now, but it took some time for the event to get its sea legs and run smoothly, specifically concerning security.

This is where OTW crowd control barriers came in! This past year, the CCBGF partnered with OTW for the first time; yellow pedestrian barricades were used to cordon streets off from vehicle entry, to define sitting and standing areas, and to create a safe stage and backstage space for performers. Because our crowd barricades are so versatile and portable, they make the process of setting up and tearing down much quicker. When the concert series is over, the barricades are easily stored away for the next city event like their main street rodeo or their classic car show.

Farmer’s Markets

A Saturday morning at the market can be a blissful way to spend a beautiful day. Handmade items, delicious produce and food, and art displays are often found lining the way. Farmer’s markets can be a great place to discover something new to try, to support local businesses, and to be in community with one another. 

To keep vendors and guests as safe as possible, a perimeter and/or an entry gate to separate parking and the stalls could be a good idea to include (if the budget allows). This is especially important if the market is taking place near quick-moving vehicle traffic. While a parking lot market might not experience as much traffic as one on a street, it’s still important to consider the amount of traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian) that will happen.  

Farmer’s market safety in action: 

Farmer’s markets can be a few stalls at a park or in a parking lot, or, like Farmers Market Ogden, they can take up an entire street. Because their weekly market is so large, boasting approximately 21,000 visitors each week, the city of Ogden uses OTW crowd barricades to execute its security measures on Historic 25th Street. 

To make it easy for people to navigate, they use three different colors to indicate various things. To separate different areas of the market (i.e. booths, live music, etc), they use yellow crowd barriers; to indicate road closures, orange is the barricade of choice. Finally, for general crowd control and entry points to the market, white pedestrian barriers can be found.

This market runs nearly year-round, and OTW crowd barriers are durable and reliable enough to see it through week after week. When they’re not being used for the Farmer’s Market Ogden, our barricades are also used for the downtown Harvest Moon Celebration and the Historic 25th Street Car Show. 

Barricades for cities make crowd control management a breeze.

Whether a parade through the heart of downtown, a car show with all the classics and more, a live concert of people’s favorite local celebrity, or anything else where large numbers are expected, crowd control barricades can help ensure that your event is prepared to handle the influx of people. 

With proper use of OTW crowd barriers, you can feel secure in knowing that you’ve got your perimeter covered and your crowd management down to a science. 

 

Ready to get started? Contact OTW for your city crowd control safety solutions today.