Part of Main Avenue in downtown Brookings will be completely shut down to vehicle traffic for Hobo Day in an effort to ensure the safety of people celebrating South Dakota State’s homecoming.
Main Avenue from Third to Fifth streets will be closed to vehicles from 6 a.m. Hobo Day (Oct. 12) to 6 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13, the Collegian learned in an interview with Brookings Police Chief Michael Drake.
Portions of Main Avenue are closed to traffic every Hobo Day during the parade. But the street is opened after that morning event, usually by noon. This will be the first time in recent memory that the street has been off limits to vehicles all day, the chief said.
“With shutting Main Avenue down, my biggest priority as the police chief is to ensure that everyone’s engaging downtown and enjoying themselves safely,” Drake said.
The process to get the OK to shut down the street started in early September. Drake said he met with downtown businesses, the city manager and city council, and the fire and street departments throughout September to figure out details. The final decision was made Monday.
Main Street is a two-lane thoroughfare and the parking situation along the road can make it difficult to see when pedestrians cross the street without using the crosswalks, Drake said. Many people who are distracted or intoxicated do just that on busy weekends.
No motor traffic from Third to Fifth Streets (essentially from Skinner’s Pub to Nick’s Hamburger Shop) will allow people to walk freely without the risk of a driver not seeing them cross the street, Drake said.
Dominic Peters is manager of The 9 Bar and Nightclub in downtown Brookings. He said he thinks it’s a good idea that Main Avenue is shutting down so people can walk freely and not have to worry about cars.
The bars in downtown Brookings such as The 9, Skinners and Ray’s Corner already are familiar with foot traffic patterns and they speak with the police if needed or to help them out. The change of having the street shut down will not affect how the downtown businesses are run, Peters said.
Drake said that business owners along Main Avenue were “very supportive” of the move to close down the street.
“They had insightful suggestions on how to do this,” Drake said. “Their priority was public safety.”
The most active days of Hobo Week are Friday and Saturday. Brookings Police Patrol Lt. Terry Coon said Hobo Day is a busy time for law enforcement.
“It is all hands-on deck (situation), and nobody gets time off during that weekend,” Coon said.
The Brookings Police Department and a variety of other agencies such as the Brookings County Sheriff’s Department, the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the University Police Department communicate and work together to ensure a safe environment for everyone on Hobo Day, Drake said.
Some technologies and tools that help these agencies ensure safety are drones for overhead watches, binoculars, UTVs, and cameras to get angles that officers may not see.
A new addition this year to the list of tools authorities will use to keep order is electronic bicycles to help officers move around downtown quickly. These e-bikes will enhance movement so that officers can patrol further and more efficiently, Drake said.
When patrolling, Coon said that officers look for signs of intoxication that indicate to them they need to intervene. Some of these signs are when people are lying down outside or acting rowdy. A police presence downtown also helps to deter people from committing crimes.
