LITTLE ROCK — A Riverfest vendor was shut down Friday night after security officials discovered that among items he was selling were airsoft pistols and rifles, a breach of the rules for the annual Little Rock event.
Airsoft guns fire plastic pellets and are powered by compressed gas or an electric- or spring-driven piston. They are modeled after actual firearms.
The guns are nonlethal, but safety equipment, such as goggles, are recommended for their use.
Officials confiscated several boxes of the guns, which Jordan Johnson, the chairman of the Riverfest board of directors, described as “extremely realistic” and said fire pellets the size of BBs. He said he wasn’t sure how many of the guns were sold but that the vendor was stopped “early in the night.”
“The security folks identified it quickly and shut it down,” Johnson said.
The vendor, who also was selling sunglasses, was allowed to reopen his booth after the guns were confiscated, officials said.
In the 10 years that Johnson has worked with the downtown Little Rock festival, he said, he couldn’t remember another time when such action was taken against a vendor.
“We’ve never had any issues with our vendors. That was just a small isolated incident,” he said.
Soon after the gun sales were discovered, a broadcast about them went out to festival security officers, indicating that they looked like real weapons, police said.
But officers did not encounter any of the guns, and there were no incidents of people brandishing them or using them to injure other people, said police spokesman Michelle Howard.
Shay Matyja, director of security for the festival, said Friday night was mostly quiet and no one was physically escorted away from the event. He said this year security teams were covering more ground than in previous years, extending their perimeter around the event to include the routes attendees take to get to their vehicles and hotels.
Central Arkansas Security, a private firm hired by Riverfest, is working at the event along with Little Rock police officers and deputies from the Pulaski County sheriff’s office, Matyja said.
Across the Arkansas River, North Little Rock police officers were providing security near the pedestrian bridges, a spokesman said.
The Little Rock vice squad also was working among the crowds to cut down on crimes involving alcohol, Howard said.
On Friday night, the vice squad made 16 arrests on 25 misdemeanor charges at the festival. Most of those werefor minors in possession of alcohol, but charges also included obstructing government operations, records show.
The city recorded its 19th homicide of the year a couple of hours after Riverfest closed down Friday night, but there were no shootings or major crimes reported at the event Friday night or early Saturday morning, Howard said.
The festival, stretching from the Stickyz music stage under the Main Street Bridge to the dog jumping and races on the Heifer International grounds, began drawing a crowd as soon as the gates opened at 11 a.m. Saturday. People mingled among the vendor booths near the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center, and the stages boomed with music.
Officials said they expected large crowds for the headlining bands last night and tonight.
Crowd estimates were not available for Friday or Saturday. Matyja said the security teams will be alert no matter what size the crowd is.
“We’re basically prepared each night the same to make sure we’re ready for anything,” Matyja said.
Riverfest schedule
TODAY
MILLER LITE AMPHITHEATER STAGE 1:30 p.m. Luke Williams 2:30 Singletree 3:45 Mandy McBryde 5:00 Adam Faucett 6:15 Cadillac Black 7:30 Little Big Town 9:00 Riverfest Fireworks 9:45 Joe Walsh
BUD LIGHT STAGE 2:00 p.m. War Chief 3:00 This Holy House 4:15 Year of the Tiger 5:30 Se7en Sharp 6:45 EKG 7:45 B.o.B 9:00 Riverfest Fireworks 9:30 Snoop Dogg
STICKYZ MUSIC TENT 2:00 p.m. Swampbird 3:15 Interstate Buffalo 4:30 Touch, The Grateful Dead Tribute Band 6:15 Joey Farr & the Fuggins Wheat Band 7:45 Zoogma 9:00 Durden (DJ) 9:00 Riverfest Fireworks 9:45 Archnemesis
ARKANSAS SELECT BUICK GMC DEALERS KIDZONE STAGE 1:15 p.m. The Kazoobie Kazoo Show with Rick Hubbard2:00 Monster Shop Bumpn 3:00 Jamiah on Fire & the Red Machine 4:00 Wayne Francis the Ventriloquist 5:00 The Kazoobie Kazoo Show with Rick Hubbard 6:15 Monster Shop Bumpn 7:00 Brian & Terri Kinder, Kindersongs 8:00 Trout Fishing in America 9:00 Riverfest Fireworks 9:30 Trout Fishing in America
YARNELL’S ICE CREAM FAMILY STAGE 1:30 p.m. McCafferty’s School of Irish Dance 2:15 Jesse White Tumblers 3:00 Arkansas All-Star Cloggers 3:45 Anderson’s Taekwondo Center 4:30 Kenya Safari Acrobats 5:15 Reflejos Mexicanos 6 p.m. Kenya Safari Acrobats 6:45 Jesse White Tumblers
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 05/27/2012