A Smyrna park closed early over the weekend to prevent a “takeover” style party in a growing trend.
George C Wright Jr Municipal Park in Smyrna closed early Friday to prevent what the Smyrna Police Department called a “planned, unpermitted party” on park grounds.
Smyrna has an online webpage that residents can use to apply for permitted use of the park- including payment of the associated fees.
Authorities said those applications were not filled out by the would-be partiers.
Early park closures also occurred this month at other Kent County managed parks- Brecknock, Tidbury Creek, and Big Oak - where county park leaders anticipated “takeover” style parties were planned.
Kent County Department of Community Services Director Jeremy Sheppard
"When these takeover parties happen, there’s rules being broken all over the park." he told DPM.
Sheppard says it’s not ordinary parties the Department takes issues with, or the fact that they were unpermitted.
These parties, he says, often include loud music, alcohol or cannabis use, and typically leave the park littered or vandalized.
"Those are the things that have led us to create, essentially, internal policy of closing down parks when we get credible information from authorities that these take over parties are happening in our area." he said.
Sheppard adds the aftermath of the parties typically leave litter and vandalized park property, which he says the Department cannot afford.
“It’s not like all the money in the world to pay for people to go out there. I don’t have park rangers, we don’t have a police force like other municipalities and counties do. So, we do what we can do in order to protect the county facilities from these types of gatherings." he said.
He adds that the early closures will continue until policy changes.
