Midway, FL - The City of Midway's "Hangout Sunday" has not been cancelled permanently but was instead postponed according to Lieutenant Chris Daniels at Midway Police Department.
Following a meeting Wednesday, the mayor of Midway and local authorities concluded that the event needed to be cancelled for now. The city posted an announcement on Facebook and Twitter and said the event was cancelled due to overcrowding and safety concerns.
The posts received mixed responses. Lauren Shumate was one of the more vocal in favor of the decision. "Thank you City of Midway and all agencies involved. Midway and Tallahassee cannot afford to let these types of problems continue. The safety of everyone, especially those traveling I-10 who stop for fuel and food, are of utmost importance."
However, people like Jahiya Haywood strongly disagreed with the decision. "I swear people can't do anything positive in this stupid county!!!! Law enforcement wasn't even needed. I can see if there were fights or something of that nature but no ones safety was threatened."
Lt. Daniels says that "Hangout Sunday" was started by local residents in order to give the community something positive to do. The weekly event consisted of music, food, and vendors at a park in Midway. He also said that the event drew thousands of people to the park and the event was growing as people from surrounding counties were also showing their support.
Lt. Daniels says that event was not cancelled because of any disturbances. In fact, he says the event has been incident-free since the beginning.
"Basically, we needed some time to get a better operations plan," said Lt. Daniels. He blames traffic as the primary reason for the shut down of "Hangout Sunday". With that many people involved, Daniels says police are working to get a better plan put in place for possible incidents.
Local officials are now focusing on restrategizing to be able support the large turnout at the weekly event.
