Massive melee leads to chaperone policy for teens at Contra Costa County Fair
A chaotic brawl that broke out over the weekend at the Contra Costa County fair led organizers to require that minors be accompanied by adult chaperones, the second time in a month that a large Bay Area attraction has set such a policy.
The melee at the annual fair in Antioch started Saturday evening with a cluster of fights between teenagers that morphed into a raucous crowd shoving its way through the fairgrounds, as seen in a video taken of the incident and tweeted by @NewsContraCosta.
Responding authorities could not track down the brawl participants, who “fled to other areas of the fair and continued fighting” when Contra Costa sheriff’s deputies approached, office spokesperson Jimmy Lee said. No one was arrested.
The fair closed early for the night, and officials announced Sunday morning that minors attending the fair after 5 p.m. that day — the last of the weekend event — would need to be accompanied by a chaperone.
“We want to ensure that the fair remains a safe and fun environment for all families to gather and make memories,” fair organizers said in a Facebook post.
The decision echoed a similar move by the Great America amusement park, which last month began requiring chaperones to accompany minors 14 or younger from 4 p.m. to close.
The park, a staple of Santa Clara, cited “increasing incidents of unruly and inappropriate behavior across our industry and at other major entertainment venues.”
As with many other events in California, last year marked return of the annual Contra Costa County annual fair after organizers canceled the event in consecutive years due to the pandemic.
The past year also saw increased scrutiny of how younger guests conduct themselves at concerts, amusement parks and other public spaces.
After a similar brawl erupted among teens last summer at Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California, the park announced its own chaperone policy, which after briefly being rescinded was reinstated last month.