Minneapolis leaders look to head off July 4th ‘chaos’

In continued efforts to curb the spikes in disturbances and assorted “chaos” that accompanies the July 4th holiday in recent years, Minneapolis city officials said they will once again increase patrols and close off some parking lots and roads surrounding Bde Maka Ska and Boom Island Park for the annual festivities.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Wednesday the majority of road closures will be around Boom Island, where the “Red, White & Boom” fireworks show takes place, and Bde Maka Ska, the largest in the city’s Chain of Lakes.

“We’re also once again using strategic road closures in areas that have seen high levels of problematic behavior,” he said. “These measures have proved successful last year in disrupting that activity, protecting neighborhoods and ensuring celebrations could continue safely.”

Minneapolis Park Police Chief Jason Ohotto named closures on N. West River Parkway from Plymouth Avenue until 11th Avenue and on the St. Anthony Main waterfront on Main Street SE. from E. Hennepin Avenue to 6th Avenue SE. The Boom Island Park Parking Lot will only be open for disability parking on Friday.

Parts of the Bde Maka Ska Parkway will be closed beginning Thursday until Sunday as will the lake’s parking lot. Lake Harriet Parkway will also be closed for an event. The Stone Arch Bridge, which is under repair, remains closed.

Ohotto said that among the 185 parks in the city’s system, Bde Maka Ska ranked first in 911 calls in both 2023 and 2024.

“We are trying to do something different to lower that number, and over the last month it appears that we have,” he said.

O’Hara said he privately thanked Ohotto last year for closing the Bde Maka Ska parking lot and limiting the “chaos” that has ensued in the area in past years.

The Minneapolis Police Department will also increase patrols over the entire weekend for both July 4th and this weekend’s Taste of Minnesota festival in downtown Minneapolis. O’Hara did not specify how many officers will be in the city this weekend, but Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Mike Lee said the agency will also dedicate extra troopers to the city over the weekend.

More than two dozen arrests were made in Dinkytown last year following the use of illegal fireworks, including some who deliberately targeted people and police officers. Three years ago, seven people were shot and wounded during a July 4th gathering at Boom Island Park, and just last month a woman was killed and four men were wounded in what was described as a “war zone” shooting after an alleged gang member fired from a circling vehicle into the crowd.

O’Hara said police will be monitoring both areas closely and conducting regular weekend road closures in Dinkytown.

“I was there myself last year when the problems were happening, and I’m very well aware of the potential for activity, and we will be doing everything we can to try and prevent that,” he said.

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said her department’s land and water efforts will increase too, with more deputies assisting local agencies with drunken boaters and drivers.

Parks Department employees will help police and act as ambassadors at many smaller parks in the metro. Ohotto said they will be the “eyes and ears” throughout Minneapolis parks.

“The Fourth of July, for public safety, is a demanding day,” Ohotto said. “It’s our busiest day of the year and police officers cannot be everywhere they need to be; they are a scarce resource. So, we are using park staff.”

O’Hara said social media will be monitored around the clock after posts circulated on July 3, 2024, encouraging people to come into the city and “attack people and police with fireworks.”

The Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Intelligence Unit will also be monitoring several platforms, looking for park takeovers and users inviting each other to the city.

“That’s a part of the preventative, knowing what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen,” Witt said. “But as the chief [O’Hara] said, some things you can’t plan for because [you] just have to respond.”