ROCHESTER, Minn. – Rowdy hooligans and vandals forced Sheriff Kevin Torgerson to close the Olmsted County Fair at dark through Sunday. Problems began Tuesday when a 15-year-old girl was asked to leave, Torgerson said. Her friends reacted by kicking and spitting at deputies. Since then, groups of 40 to 60 young people have roamed the fairgrounds and engaged in bad behavior — assaults, fights, thefts and unpredictable disorderliness. Torgerson said that the Fair’s governing board agreed to the at-dark curfew and bulked up staffing. Affected mostly is the Gold Star carnival. Rides and games could be shut down even earlier in the evening if it is warranted, Torgerson said. The sheriff urged parents not to drop off their juvenile children unattended at the fair. The fair, he said, “is not a daycare.”
Dark at dusk. A curfew has been ordered at the Olmsted County Fair after nights of trouble by marauding gangs of young people. Daytime the fair continues to live its claim as “family-friendly.”