From the points of view of the Hempstead County Sheriff and the Assistant Chief of Hope Police Department, the Watermelon Festival was a safe one, without major incident.

Sheriff James Singleton said there was nothing major to report in the way of crime or safety issues. “We were responsible for the concert, and it went exceptionally well. Everybody was well behaved.”

“All in all, it was a good, safe weekend,” Kim Tomlin, Hope’s Assistant Chief of Police, said. “You had your occasional lost set of keys and your normal stuff. People got a little overheated, but there wasn’t anything beyond that.”

She added that once or twice a child was temporarily lost sight of by a parent but was shortly found again in each case.