St. Paul neighbors patrol to increase safety, reduce stress near Minnesota State Fair

Neighbors of the Minnesota State Fair have banded together in a volunteer group, set on helping to deter crime they say increased during the two previous fairs.

"I'm a neighbor," read the bright green neon shirts that group members wear as they patrol the sidewalks of the Como Park neighborhood, just east of the fair's main gates.

Their aim is to help the lost or ailing, defuse tension caused by parking disputes and other crowd-driven confusion, and keep each other in the loop about neighborhood safety.

The Neighborhood State Fair Safety Initiative, comprising nearly 200 residents, was formed shortly after last year's fair, which saw a shooting just outside the front gate.

"I think it's a good idea to have a more visible presence in the neighborhood," said Paul Schmitz, who lives near the front gates and signed up for the group's email updates.

With the fair in full swing this past week, traffic buzzed outside its perimeter. Throngs of fairgoers walked to the front gate on Snelling Avenue while neighbors directed cars to park on their lawns. Traffic has surged with attendance this year, which is back up after the pandemic forced a year off in 2020 and a scaled-back affair last year.

So far, attendance has neared 2019 levels. Joshua Lego, a St. Paul Police Department senior commander in close communication with the neighborhood group, said there have been fewer incidents of disorderly conduct outside the fairgrounds this year. The biggest test is likely to come this weekend, as the fair approaches its end and crowds traditionally swell to their largest.

Concerns over violence started after three people were shot and one was run over outside the front gates in 2019. Leading up to that confrontation, neighbors said, a crowd rushed the closed gates and when they couldn't get in, some ran through yards, breaking planters and other items.

Concerns grew louder in 2021, when a gunshot rang out in the normally quiet neighborhood, though no one was injured. However, nearby resident Jennifer Victor-Larsen stressed that most of the unsavory activity outside the fairgrounds isn't violent.

But a lot of it is annoying: There are people urinating, thinking no one is watching. There's the occasional drunk, looking for a car to sleep in. One neighbor reportedly found a person defecating in their yard. The culprit was given a plastic bag and told to clean up after himself, Victor-Larsen said.

The group, formed by Victor-Larsen, Cindy Mitsch and Kate McCreight, hopes to keep the neighborhood better connected, to intervene in situations before they turn violent and to help fairgoers who are lost or in need of medical help.

"When people are in situations that are stressful like finding parking and they've been driving around for an hour, people are upset," Victor-Larsen said. "We are there just to ask 'How can we help?' Maybe we know somebody down the block that can squeeze them in. Those are some of the things we are doing to bring the tension down."

At the end of each fair day, the safety group meets with a law enforcement officer who relays the day's police calls. Then the group emails residents with a review of the police calls, along with observations by neighbors — such as empty parked cars left running — and a review of whom to call for parking violations.

So far, Lego said, it appears the group's work has deterred some altercations from escalating.

"It seems really peaceful. There's been fewer incidents of disorderly conduct," he said. "There'll be 120,000 people and with more people there could be more problems, but we haven't seen that come to pass yet."

The neighborhood safety group also works in partnership with community ambassadors employed by the city to de-escalate situations before violence starts.

On Monday, the group helped a young woman who had been harassed by her friends while working at the fairgrounds, said Kelly Brown, who works as a community ambassador.

"We're trying to provide them a safe space and to be the go-between, between us and the officers," Brown said. "We'll go there and we'll defuse the situation and be a presence so [police] don't have to do anything."