San Jacinto Plaza to have heavy security presence during Neon Desert Festival

Tens of thousands of music lovers will be putting San Jacinto Plaza to the test, a month after the newly-renovated plaza was opened to the public.

ABC-7 looked into how the plaza will hold up for the Neon Desert Music Festival this weekend. Those improvements cost nearly $5 million, so ABC-7 sat down with Neon Desert and Parks and Rec officials to talk about the game plan to protect the City’s investment.

“This really will be the true test of how many people it can accommodate,” El Pasoan Erin Smith said as she walked around the new San Jacinto Plaza Thursday afternoon. She imagined what it will look like with more than 17,000 per day expected for Neon Desert on Saturday and Sunday.

ABC-7 asked Smith if she thinks it’s alright for San Jacinto Plaza to host an event like that. “Yes, I think it’s OK,” Smith said. “I think that’s what it’s for, to have events in, as long as there’s good security should be OK.”

Paula Powell, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation, told ABC-7 the planning has been extensive.

“For any event in San Jacinto now, we have established protocol, that we spent almost six months developing,” Powell said. “They have to provide four security guards that are just to protect the park and those security guards report to us.”

For events of over 3,500 involving street closures, like Neon Desert, perimeter barricades will be placed around the plaza. Additional barricades will block off landscaping, and although ABC-7 was originally told the grass would also be blocked off, the grass will be open to those attending the festival.

In addition to the four peace officers around the plaza, a security guard must also monitor the stage area and a splash pad operator is required.

“Have fun at the festival and respect the park,” Powell said, “because we’re going to use it for a long time.”

Neon Desert’s producer, Zach Paul, assured ABC-7 that San Jacinto Plaza will be protected.

“Having San Jacinto back this year is a big deal for us,” said Paul, pointing out the festival has had to work around its construction the past two years. “We’re going to make sure that plaza is in tact and taken care of. The way that it was given to us, we’re going to give it back to the city in the same condition.”

Paul said in addition to the required security at San Jacinto Plaza, there will be an another 80 to 90 security officers and 45 to 50 police officers Downtown during the festival.