By John Dobberstein, Editor and Angel Ford, Contributing Writer
Rooster Days looked and felt the way it typically does Friday as patrons descended on the Rose District to eat, drink and be merry during the festival’s 93rd year.
This scene was much different than Thursday when gunshots rang out across the street from the festival grounds on opening night. Broken Arrow police said there was a dispute among a group of juveniles and the one of them produced a handgun and fired several shots in the air. Nobody was injured.
The person who fired the shots was located and detained by police and the firearm — which police said was stolen from a vehicle — was also recovered.
Broken Arrow Police Department Capt. Josh McCoy said the gunshots were fired near the Carlyle Apartments just east of Main Street. The juveniles who were involved in the incident had been at the Rooster Days Festival earlier.
McCoy said some of the juveniles had previous police contact and they all knew each other. There was a physical fight that briefly took place before the rounds were discharged, McCoy said.
“We contacted their parents, and we talked to all the juveniles and let them know — even the ones that weren’t involved in the fight — it’s probably best not to be involved in this festival for the rest of the weekend. And that is because of everything that it caused with the confrontation, and the mutual combat component to some of that,” said McCoy.
“We have a heavy police presence every day that Rooster Days takes place, every night, during the parade and during the run. We have continued on with that plan and adjusted it if needed based off of crowd expectations,” said McCoy.
“We feel confident in the plan that we have in place (and) the staffing that we have in place. I think last night kind of speaks to that.”
One of the honored attendees was Miss Rooster Days herself, Ciara Cotton, who was crowned in February. She was both surprised and excited that she won the title.
“I just really paid attention to detail, what I wanted to see happen. And I learned from my parents. I kind of looked at them and I learned how to answer questions professionally. I went in there with my confidence and won,” said Cotton.
She added that she wants to learn how business and how the community works, and how to grow a business.
“Things I would say are most important to me is just building community based activities, especially for children. I feel in order to get to know your peers, as a child, it is kind of harder because you have to pay a lot of times to get into (some) places,” Cotton said. “I want to make it more accessible for you to be able to be to spend time together.”
When asked what Rooster Days means to her, she said “it’s important that there is someone who represents you and be a voice.
“There are a lot of people in Broken Arrow who I am around that see things that need to be changed and improved, but they don’t have a voice to speak out. I want to be that voice to speak out. And also to have a festival where a family can go and be safe.”
Lori Lewis, Vice President of Membership for the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce, said this is her 14th Rooster Days personally and her sixth as a Chamber employee.
“When I look back and think about Rooster Days, I think of family. I think of community. I think of friends. I think of a community that loves our visitors and loves each other as neighbors. It’s just nice to see everybody come together and enjoy their time at the festival,” said Lewis.
“Prior to working at the Chamber, I was a community volunteer, and I came out here every year. The reason I do it is, I love Broken Arrow. Broken Arrow is my home, it’s my heart and Rooster Days is a significant part of that.”
McCoy added that it’s understandable some people might be hesitant to visit Rooster Days due to the Thursday incident but that’s not the norm for the event.
“Talking today with other people who have been with the agency for a long time, looking over the history of this event — I’ve been here for 13 years personally — and we’ve never seen this before,” McCoy said.
“For those people that are accustomed coming out and participating, come out. This is going to be a safe event. We have a large police presence. That incident took place off site, and there was a reason for that, because we have a heavy police presence.”
Rooster Days activities fire up again Saturday. The 5k and 1-mile Fun Run kicks off at 7:30 a.m., followed by the Rooster Days Parade at 10 a.m. Entertainment starts at 10:30 a.m. and gets into full swing with the featured musical acts 4:30 p.m.
The festival and carnival runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. CLICK HERE to find out more about the musical acts and vendors, parking, festival rules and more.
Leave a Reply