VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Mount Trashmore Summer Carnival in Virginia Beach was ordered by the city to close, weeks early, with the city citing a lack of law enforcement officers to work the event.

In an email sent to Virginia Beach City Council members Sunday evening, City Manager Patrick Duhaney wrote that city staff would be notifying the carnival producer, Chesapeake-based Joel “Jody” Cadwell and his National Events Management Service company, to cease operations after Sunday, May 25.

The move was being made “out of an abundance of caution” according to Duhaney, after neither the Virginia Beach Sheriff Office or Virginia Beach Police Department could provide the number of personnel required by the agreed-upon in security plan that served to “increase security presence.”

Duhaney said the more robust plan was ins response to the “tragic homicide” of Jeyani Upshur, 15, one year earlier not far from the carnival.

Cadwell, who said he founded the carnival 35 years ago, takes issue with the fact the city never alerted him to a potential staffing issue in the months prior.

“[The city of Virginia Beach] contracted us to be here this year,” Cadwell said. “If we had been given notice six months ago, ‘Hey, we just don’t want to do it anymore’ we would be somewhere else doing this,” Cadwell said.

Cadwell said he also offered to provide private, armed security for the event, but City Manager Patrick Duhaney didn’t appear poised to agree to the offer.

“An event of this size and scope requires public law enforcement officers to enforce laws, whereas private security alone has limited powers,” Duhaney said in a statement Tuesday.

The carnival located in the park’s parking lot was originally set to run from May 23 until June 17, excluding Wednesdays. Florida-based Deggeller Attractions, Inc. provides the 22 rides, games and concessions.

It takes roughly 150 employees to run, Cadwell said, and while they will be taken care of, some who work off of commission will likely be out of luck.

The city is also losing money on the event shutdown.

In a contract 10 On Your Side obtained, it stated for every ride at the carnival, the city would get 15% of the gross revenue. Also, the city gets $250 per stand.

Memorial Day, several cars passed the closed off carnival gates, asking “when will you open?” — many not yet aware of the news.

“It’s going to be sad because we were just talking about how we were gonna come next year or tomorrow. We’re saddened by it because this is a great family event every year,” said the Carter family.

“It means a lot to the community,” Cadwell said. “A lot of people here may never go to Busch Gardens or may not be able to afford going to Orlando. We are their Disneyland. That’s the way I truly feel.”

Cadwell said he isn’t discounting the city’s security concerns and made changes to the carnival following a fight that broke out inside the grounds last year.

“We added tower cameras,” Cadwell said. “We had metal detectors at the gate. The gate is locked down tight and it works.”

Anyone under the age of 18 also now had to be with someone 25 or older to attend. There is now a $2 admission just to enter the lot.

“The city asked us to put that into play,” Cadwell said. “We have a permit [and] we were approved. We have a signed contract. It just seems that the city at this point can’t live up to their end of it and provided the security.”

The carnival experience at Mt. Trashmore is enjoyed by residents and visitors alike, so it is understandable that our community may feel disappointed in this cancellation, as am I. However, public safety is paramount. 

Each permitted event in our city has a robust security plan that undergoes a thorough review process and takes into consideration past years’ experience, growing attendance and/or footprint, and safety needs in order to prepare, prevent and respond to needs for this year. An event of this size and scope requires public law enforcement officers with the authority to enforce laws, whereas private security alone has limited powers. After consulting with VBSO and VBPD, I determined that canceling the carnival was needed due to unanticipated City staffing gaps. 

Guests are encouraged to enjoy other City programming and events throughout the city for the remainder of the week, and offerings are available through the VB Go app.

Patrick Duhaney, Virginia Beach City Manager

The plan called for off-duty police and sheriff’s deputies to be patrolling the parking lots Cadwell said.

Problem is, not enough signed up according to Sheriff Rocky Holcomb.

The city uses a program called “Off Duty Management” where officers can sign up for extra work, with their pay coming from the event organizers. It is not required however.

“There would be no way of knowing months in advance how many people would sign up,” Holcomb said Monday.

And while both VBPD and VBSO have the authority to assign to officers and deputies working their regularly scheduled shifts to the carnival, Duhaney’s note to City Council said that was not possible in this situation either.

“Due to staffing availability concerns, the Virginia Beach Sheriff Office indicated that they will not be able to provide 9 to 14 deputies needed to staff the carnival without compromising core services (e.g., jail and judicial security operations),” Duhaney said.

VBPD was in a similar situation.

As of April VBPD was nearly 60 officers short of their budgeted allotment and Holcomb said he is roughly 50 short.

Mayor Bobby Dyer on Monday said that is going to lead to tough decisions.

“You know, we don’t like [canceling the carnival], Dyer said. “But once again, God forbid, if something happened and we were we were not prepared in the proper way … [officers and deputies] had to be where they are needed. You know, we got a big city, and we had to make sure our personnel was covering not only the Oceanfront, not only Town Center, but the entire city. Look, a lot of police and sheriff’s departments, even locally, are very short staffed.”

Dyer said he is hopeful potential solutions can be found during a meeting on public safety next Tuesday.

In the meantime, Cadwell said he’s doing everything he can to retain the carnival.

“I have 150 people employees here, a lot of them foreign students that are going to not be able to work for three weeks,” Caldwell said. “You can’t just take this and set it down somewhere. This is a community event, not a tourism event. As you walk inside, and you’ll see basically this is something for the citizens. I think someone needs to sit down with us and we need to see if we can work it out.”