Dartmouth Police: Carnival Staff Will Enforce Policy on Minors

DARTMOUTH (WBSM) — While Dartmouth Police will be in attendance during this year’s carnival at the Dartmouth Mall, it will be up to Fiesta Shows to enforce its new policy on minors attending the carnival.

When Fiesta Shows confirmed that it was utilizing the same new policy on minors for Dartmouth that it used in Kingston this past weekend, many were questioning how that policy would be enforced.

The policy requires all children under the age of 18 to be accompanied by a “parent, guardian or chaperone” and that person must stay with them at all times. They also are subject to having to show identification to enter the carnival and each adult can only chaperone up to four minors while at the carnival.

Failure to follow the new policy could result in ejection from the carnival and no refund for the admittance fee.

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The new policy came as the result of an incident at the Weymouth Carnival on April 19, also put on by Fiesta Shows, in which fights broke out leading to an 18-year-old from Brockton being arrested, a Brockton juvenile being issued a criminal complaint, and one person injured.

Dartmouth Police Chief Brian P. Levesque confirmed to WBSM today that Fiesta Shows is responsible for enforcing the new rules for the Dartmouth Carnival, which runs from May 2 through May 12 at the Dartmouth Mall.

“The carnival's policy regarding minors will be enforced by the carnival employees,” Chief Levesque said.

The department will once again have a presence at the carnival, and may set up its mobile command center at times as well.

“We plan to vary the police presence according to the anticipated turnout,” Chief Levesque said. “The command center will be on-scene during the busier nights like last year.”

In 2023, the carnival was located in the back parking lot behind Macy’s – which, while it caused issues for the neighborhood right behind it, it didn’t cause too many traffic concerns.

Chief Levesque said with the carnival moving this year to the other side of the mall, in the parking lot between Taco Bell and Buffalo Wild Wings, cars and pedestrians will have to be on alert.

“Due to the location of the carnival in the mall lot, we anticipate an increase in the number of people having to walk through the mall parking lot,” he said. “We want to remind everyone to be aware of vehicular traffic, especially as it gets dark.”