Starlight Theatre officials said they will be checking tickets at the entrance to Swope Park on Monday to deter throngs of young people from hanging around outside a rap concert.
The reason for the unusual procedure? Officials are concerned about cruising and a “festival mentality” associated with performances by Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne.
Starlight’s president, Denton Yockey, assured the Kansas City park board this week that Swope Park will not be closed for the 7 p.m. concert and that other people wishing to use the park will not be kept out.
But he said Starlight officials wish to protect the safety of ticket holders and improve traffic flow.
The plan is to collect money for concert parking at the Swope Parkway and 63rd Street entrances to Swope Park. Tickets for the show also will be sold at the entrances. The Elmwood Avenue entrance to Swope Park will be blocked.
What happens if people come to the park without tickets for Lil Wayne and have no plans to buy them?
“We’ll direct them to an area of the park where they can enjoy the park,” said Starlight operations director Dan Rieke. “This is a huge park.”
Rieke said Starlight officials will begin staffing the park entrances between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday.
“We may have a couple of additional police officers for traffic control,” Rieke said. “We may upgrade our security a little bit.”
Starlight last used the park entrance ticketing system for a hip-hop concert in 2006 and there were no incidents, Rieke said.
Councilman Terry Riley, whose district includes Swope Park, said he had heard concerns from many citizens about possible disturbances associated with the concert.
Lil Wayne performed downtown at the Sprint Center in January without incident. In Montreal early this year, police dispatched their anti-gang squad for a Lil Wayne concert and there were no serious incidents.
But two people were cut and suffered minor injuries in Florida in March when the crowd grew restless waiting for a Lil Wayne concert to start.
Riley and Starlight officials said they would try to spread the word about the ticketing procedure through radio announcements.