The Nebraska State Fair will, in 2016, begin screening concertgoers with hand security wands to increase the safety of fair guests.

According to Joseph McDermott, executive director of the Nebraska State Fair, “This is the next step in making our fairgoers feel secure. We’ve all heard recent accounts of celebrities being accosted or worse in the news.  We want to take every precaution to keep risk for the artists as well as concertgoers as low as possible.”

Sharon Dreher, head of Double Locked Security says, “Even the performers have an ever growing list of what folks can and cannot bring into the concert.  The best advice I give concertgoers is, “if you don’t need it, leave it at home.” Final rules and regs are always at the artist’s discretion, and even when not, we have a list of our own rules to keep everyone safe at our State Fair concerts.”

Typical concert rules prohibit such items as: Weapons, glass, selfie sticks, laser pens/pointers and of course, no audio or video recording at any concert event.

Bag Checks will also be conducted in addition to hand held wands.  Concertgoers are urged to come to the concert early to alleviate the congestion that may occur as each attendee enters the concert grounds.

“We are very aware that this will slow our lines a bit, but we believe that it’s security measures like these that will insure not only a great time, but a safe time to be had by everybody at the concert,” McDermott said, “ The rules and regulations will be clearly posted along the lines into the concert.  We ask our concertgoers to read them over to cut down on the time they spend in line and add to their time having fun.”

The Nebraska State Fair runs from August 26 to September 5 in Grand Island.