Dartmouth carnival shut down by police due to ‘gangs of kids fighting’

A carnival in downtown Dartmouth abruptly shut down two hours early Monday night due to fights breaking out in the area.

The carnival was set up at Alderney Landing as part of the 2022 Busker Festival, which expanded to the Dartmouth waterfront this year, and was supposed to run until 10 p.m.

In a Facebook post shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, the amusement ride business East Coast Amusements of New Brunswick said Halifax Regional Police ordered them to close.

“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were ordered to close by the Halifax police. (Gangs of kids fighting in the parking lots),” the post said.

Nathan Smithers, the manager of East Coast Amusements, said in an interview that it was disappointing the event came to an end in this way.

“It’s unfortunate that they ruined the fun for everyone else,” he said. “We never want to have to do that to people … everything was going good, it was a good day, people were down there, there was lots of people having fun.”

The post also clarified that no rides “fell over,” a rumour that was circulating earlier on social media.

Smithers said that rumour began when crews began to take down the Zipper ride after one of the motors failed.

“They started tearing it down … some people had pictures of that and said the ride fell down,” he said.

“The police weren’t there because the ride fell down, there was no issue that way. We just had a ride that broke and wasn’t going to operate, so they started taking it apart so they didn’t have to do it later.”

He said East Coast Amusements has a strict no-refund policy for bracelets — which he said they stop selling at 7 p.m. anyway — but said tickets never expire, so those who weren’t able to use the tickets they bought can use them at future East Coast Amusements events.

He added that customers have been largely very understanding about the situation.

“They understood that it wasn’t something we chose to do,” said Smithers.

While Monday was the last night of the carnival at Alderney Landing, it will be at Main Street in Dartmouth between Aug. 4 and 7.

In statement, Nicolas Gagnon, acting public information officer for Halifax Regional Police, said police responded to Alderney Landing at 7 p.m. Monday after a report of “multiple fights between large groups of youths.”

“Officers arrived on scene and broke up the fights without incident or injuries reported,” he said, adding that two youths were arrested and charged for breach of undertaking.