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Once upon a time security at art festivals might consist of Boy Scouts patrolling the streets of Ann Arbor at night; Boy Scouts camping in the park at Winter Park or the University of Miami football team being "security" at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. True story ... 

Then came 9/11. Everything changed and continues to be more challenging. I was staff on the Super Bowl committee in Detroit a few years ago. We had security briefings that included local police, sheriffs, FBI and the border patrol. That was an event with a huge budget.

What has happened at the art fairs as we try to control these hugely popular, sprawling, well-attended events? Who'd attack an art fair? Who knows? Insurance companies and municipalities are requiring the shows to add 24 hour security, barricades, security cameras, train staffs for disasters. I'm sure I'm missing something here.

At the recent Arts Festival Conference sponsored by Zapp in Florida one of the topics was how to prepare an event for emergency situation. The truth: it is very costly. And VERY frightening. I learned:

• Concrete barricades need to be put in place with a crane. How do you pay for that crane? One of the shows found a crane company to be a sponsor! 
• a semi full of bike rack needs labor to get it on the street and off again
• Maureen Riley from the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair said that their security costs have gone up 267% in recent years; just police was up 86%
• Shows hire professional security people
• Off duty policemen get paid double time and since this is such pleasant duty the ones with the highest seniority (and highest pay) are likely to be patrolling

Shows are looking for grants, partnerships with sponsors, partnering with their cities to find the funds so they don't get passed on to you. 

It used to be that the only disaster we had to prepare for was seriously bad weather.

As I sat there listening I was pretty horrified that it has come to this. Why is life so complicated? (rhetorical)

Security is always an issue at the nation's art fairs with smaller events not having to pay much attention to it but the large ones that attract 100,000's of thousands of people beefing up their staff to insure the safety at their shows. When the Super Bowl was in Detroit a few years back I was on the staff and went to a meeting with not only local police but FBI, Homeland Security and border patrol officials speaking to us and briefing us on what to do. It was very sobering.

Texas' big show the Fort Worth Main Street Festival is taking place this weekend in the shadow of Monday's tragic occurrences in Boston. Festival organizers surely had their load increased in preparation for the event as they redoubled their security plans. The Fort Worth Police Department is deploying additional uniformed and undercover officers, as well as bomb-detecting K9 units, to areas in and around all large public events, said a city news release.

Suggestions that will be helpful to artists not only this weekend but going forward:

The release recommended signing up for a free service at www.nixle.com, where the Fort Worth Office of Emergency Management warns of natural or manmade emergencies in the area with texts and/or email.

Festival guests are asked to follow Homeland Security's caution: "If you see something, say something."

But because it's a free festival with 20 points of access, monitoring what people bring into it would be difficult, said spokeswoman Clair Bloxom.

"If someone saw a person leave a backpack at an artist's booth, you'd definitely want to report that to a police officer," she said. "We're encouraging people not to bring backpacks."

Guests also are asked not to bring coolers, said Jay Downie, event producer.

"If you bring a bag, keep it on your person," he said. "Any unattended bag will be confiscated."