I. PREAMBLE

It is recognized that with the current environment of events occurring locally and nationwide, there’s a heightened potential for possible disruptions at mass gatherings which directly impact the safety and peace of all attendees.  Although we’ve been lucky that BMD has not experienced any major problems in recent history, the festival it not immune to such.  This document outlines the Code of Conduct and provides a set of policies and procedures which establish the expectations of all attendees so to ensure the overall safety, security, and peace of the event.  The main goal is to ensure that the event can be enjoyed by everyone by establishing policies with remedies so to prevent situations from escalating or allow for immediate solutions where there is a heightened potential for the disruption of the peace at this family festival atmosphere.

II. POLICY

1. All festival staff must be vigilant and report anything that, you, on your first instinct, appears to be off, inappropriate, catches your attention, etc.  This includes, but is not limited to, anything and everything suspicious (persons, packages, vehicles, etc).  Trust your gut and instinct; if you sense anything then report it to the Leadership Team and Security, even as an FYI or to monitor. This applies to anything of concern or information reported by anyone to any staff member.
2. Non-Vendors with suitcases, large backpacks, large long cases or bags, carts, etc, should be contacted so to ascertain the purpose and identify the contents since this is a security concern.
3. All “Festival Executives” shall have the exclusive authority to evaluate, and, at their individual discretion, to eject any person(s) from the festival.  The exceptions are items listed in section “D,” which require an immediate and  mandatory expulsion.  A “Festival Executive” is any person who has been appointed to the 2023 Leadership Team and issued an official BMD ”Festival Executive” identification card.

The following list (but not limited to) requires an immediate and mandatory expulsion from the festival with no exceptions:

1. Weapons:

(a) Any and all rifles / long guns / shotguns that have not been authorized in writing and in advance by the Festival Director;

(b) Any and all knives that are displayed in such a manner that intimidates, could intimidate, is offensive, and/or is displayed in such a manner that affects or could affect the peace, safety and security, and/or is not properly secured to prevent removal (accidental or otherwise);

(c) Any and all pistols, whether authentic, antique, a non-working replica, or could be perceived as real (BB guns, pellet guns, etc) that is displayed in such a manner that intimidates, could intimidate, is offensive, and/or is displayed in such a manner that affects or could affect the peace, safety and security, and/or is not properly secured so to prevent removal, accidental or otherwise (such as holster without retention device (a strap that secures the pistol in the holster so it cannot be pulled out without undoing the snap), holster in poor condition or such a way that could cause firearm to fall out, etc;

(d) Anything that can be used as a weapon, including, but not limited to: swords, sticks, baseball bats, metal pipes, pepper spray, bear spray, etc.  The purpose of this is meant to identify things that people don’t ordinarily bring into fairs, festivals, mass gatherings, etc, and to exclude such as a safety and security preventative measure;

(e) Any person in possession of any weapon who is consuming alcohol, intoxicated, inebriated, inside the Beer Garden or immediate surrounding area where alcohol is served (whether or not consuming alcohol), is in close proximity to at least one other person who is consuming alcohol, has alcohol on their breath, or is or appears to be under the influence of any drug or narcotic;

(f) Any person in possession of any weapon who is passing out any fliers, literature, material and who is not an approved vendor with an approved firearm, or is an approved vendor with an approved firearm who is outside of their designated vendor space;

(g) Any person in possession of any weapon who is conducting oneself in a manner that: 

• positions oneself over others,
• displays a lack of regard for others, 
• addresses others in a manner that is disrespectful or demeaning in any way (such as, but not limited to talking down, using degrading remarks, tone of voice, etc),
• uses intimidating or threatening verbal communication, has an emotional outburst, threatens, berates, uses harsh tone of voice, repeatedly interrupts/criticizes/blames others,
• uses hostile, demeaning, intimidating, or threatening body language,
• monitors, follows, harasses, or annoys anyone, etc,
• any other behavior or actions that any Festival Staff member deems to be inappropriate, irresponsible, uncivilized, offensive, and/or not supportive of a family festival ambiance,

(h) Any and all other reasons as per the discretion of any Festival Executive.

2. Violence of any kind,

3. Threats of any kind,

4. Bullying, Intimidation, or Aggression of any kind,

5. Disturbing the Peace of any kind,

6. Harassment of any kind,

7. Gang Activity of any kind,

8. Purposeful and/or willful blocking and/or impeding of the freedom of movement of any    

    attendee,

9. Pranks of any kind,

10. Menacing of any kind,

11. Displaying anything that disrupts or could potentially disrupt the peace and enjoyment  

     of a family festival environment, whether or not there have been any complaints,

12. Groups of 2 or more persons causing a disturbance of any kind,

13. Any person who is conducting oneself in a manner that: 

• positions oneself over others, displays a lack of regard for others,
• addresses others in a disrespectful manner (such as, but not limited to talking down, using degrading remarks, tone of voice, hate words, etc),
• uses intimidating or threatening verbal communication, repeated emotional outbursts, threats, berating, harsh tone of voice, repeatedly interrupting, criticizing, blaming others,
• uses hostile, demeaning, or threatening body language,
• monitors or follows anyone, etc,
• anything that a Festival Staff member deems to be inappropriate, irresponsible, uncivilized, offensive, and/or not supportive of a family festival atmosphere,

14. Any person(s) vending who are not approved or accepted into the festival.  This includes, but is not limited to: selling or distributing anything of any kind, passing out fliers, information, literature, business cards, etc, verbal interaction for the purposes of selling anything of any kind.  This includes any and all goods, services, or information.

      E) Bicycle policy: Bicycles are not allowed inside festival venues.  Approved spots to lock a bike are on the chain link fences or poles at the basketball and tennis courts.  Bicycles cannot be locked anywhere else inside the festival grounds  This is intended so to ensure that there’s no interference with the movement and safety of festival attendees; there are no exceptions.

      F) The decision of any Festival Executive to expel any person from the festival and festival events is permanent, irrevocable, and shall remain in place until 8:00am Monday July 17, 2023.  The decision is final and cannot be appealed.

      G) In all cases of expulsion, it is advised, that, when possible, have security and another Executive co-witness.  This is so to ensure the continuity of the safety and security of festival staff and attendees.  All festival executives shall support and honor each other’s decision to expel.

      H) Action may be initiated not just through direct observation of a Festival Executive, but may originate by a report from anyone, including, but not limited to, any intelligence obtained.

    II. PROCEDURE

The following procedures have been established with consideration of the current local and national environment and so to ensure the security, safety, and peace of the festival as well as enjoyment by all attendees.  If you see something, please report it no matter what!

1. For the purposes of expulsion and trespassing, Section “D” in the preceding “POLICY” section takes precedence over anything else.  All items listed in Section “D” are mandatory grounds for immediate expulsion from the festival with no exceptions.  There are other items not listed here, but that a Festival Executive otherwise determines to qualify for expulsion.
2. The overall goal is to ensure the safety, security, and peace of the festival.  This requires staff to be proactive by, when possible, preventing a problem before it escalates into a bigger situation.  This is why all Festival Executives have discretion.  Use your discretion in conjunction with the totality of the situation, circumstances, and environment at hand.
3. No two situations/incidents are alike; each are different and therefore requires discretion for action based on the circumstance(s) at hand (except as listed in section “D”).
4. Identify the situation and make a determination as to whether or not the situation warrants that a warning be issued or if it’s apparent that a warning will not be an adequate resolution.  Use your discretion wisely and without hesitation (except as listed in section “D”).
5. The goal is to ensure the safety of all attendees and that attendees are able to peacefully enjoy the festival unimpeded and without problems or concerns for safety.  This includes, but is not limited to, freedom from intimidation, bullying, harassment, disruption of peace, or any interference of a family festival atmosphere.  Therefore, this needs to be at the forefront of any consideration when expelling and trespassing any person or persons.
6. Discretion may be used in relation to the situation at hand.  For example (but not limited to), a simple disagreement between a vendor and customer or between two attendees may warrant that a warning be issued (such as “please try and get along or risk being expelled”).  Other circumstances may require informing person(s) that security is watching.  If the issue/incident is to the point where, in your opinion and discretion, a simple warning will not work, then the person(s) shall be expelled from, and for the remaining duration of, the festival and informed that if they return they risk being arrested for trespassing.
7. Any Festival Executive who has made the decision to expel and trespass anyone may request that the Festival Director handle the expulsion.  Please do not hesitate to request the Festival Director.  The goal is to ensure the safety, security, and peace within the festival grounds.
8. The duration of any person(s) expelled from the festival grounds shall be for the remaining time left of the expiration of the permit issued to Bohemia Mining Days by the City of Cottage Grove – there are no exceptions to this.  Typically, BMD returns the park to the city on the Monday following the festival (July 17, 2023).  Therefore, any person(s) who have been expelled risk being arrested for trespassing should they return onto festival grounds while Bohemia Mining Days has an active permit.
9. In cases where any person(s) who refuse to leave when asked by any Festival Executive, security shall be called (if not already present) to handle the removal.  If security is unable to have the person(s) removed peacefully, then police must be called.  If police handle the removal, ensure that the person(s) is/are issued a no trespass order until Monday, July 17, 2023. The city of Cottage Grove may have their own “no-trespass” policies which may be for a longer period of time and are independent from Bohemia Mining Days.