VACAVILLE, Calif. — Big changes are coming to Fiesta Days in Vacaville for 2024, but that doesn't mean all those changes will be here to stay.
Fiesta Days recently announced that they'll be dropping their carnival and holding the event for only a single day instead of five. But those specific changes aren't expected to last as the organization behind the event revamps it for the future.
" I do want to make it very clear that this decision to change things, just for this year, for the year 2024, it was not done lightly... This is such a personal event for us. We take time off our paid lives to do this for free because it means so much to us, and it's such an important event for us and for our community. That to change it this year was heartbreaking," said Christina Love, parade chair for Fiesta Days.
She said the reasons for the temporary change are multi-faceted, but part of the reason is due to the violence incidents in the past two years. Love said there's been three incidents overall in the past 20 years of the event.
In 2022, an alleged fight between two 18-year-olds escalated into gunfire. The suspected shooter, a teenager from Suisun City, was quickly arrested. Another teen, from Fairfield, was hurt and taken to the hospital.
In 2023, police said fights happened throughout the day, which also included a person being arrested for having a gun. The carnival was closed an hour early out of an abundance of caution.
However, other big factors were their community's concern about increasing safety at the event and a requirement from the city on increased security, according to Love.
"We want our participants, our families... we want them to feel comfortable and confident that they can participate and they can come and enjoy the event without significant concern," said Love.
However, in addressing those concerns with increased security, the event also saw increased costs this year, which they weren't able to bear.
2024's version of Fiesta Days will focus on live music, food, vendors, beer garden, car show and parade as they meet with city officials to address concerns.
Looking toward the future, Fiesta Days 2025 will still look different, even as conversations around it continue, but Love expects the event to return to five days and for the carnival to make a return as well. But security will substantially increase. That'll include increased fencing and possibly metal detectors and wands, which could triple their security costs. Love said it could also mean a fee winds up being involved to get into the event.
She said the call for things like metal detectors and wands came from event goers, some of who stopped attending the event. The event generally pulls in around 40,000 people over it's multi-day run.
Love added that, over the years, she's seen people become more wary of large crowds, and it's a trend that has had an impact on the event.
"We have noticed, in the last two years, a decrease or a decline in our attendance, citing reasons, both again on Facebook but also in personal conversations, citing reasons for fear of not necessarily a shooting, which was the unfortunate event a few years ago, but just violence in general," said Love.
Even with the event looking different than usual, Love is still calling on people to join in on the event as it makes changes for the future.
"It is a fun day, filled with a variety of activities for the entire family. We don't have the carnival this year, but we still have food vendors and we have retail vendors, we have live music, we have dancing going on, we have our car show going on, and of course, the whole day kicks off with the parade. So it is still a fun filled packed day of entertainment and fun for the entire family. And it's free," she said.
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