Vail Police made 33 arrests over July 4 weekend
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The town of Vail Police Department made 33 arrests over the July 4 weekend, according to numbers from Vail Police Chief Ryan Kenney.
“The majority of the arrests were for minor in possession,” Kenney said. “The few others were open container, assault, resisting arrest and DUI.”
The arrests are the latest development in an ongoing saga concerning July 4 in Vail, in which complaints regarding underage drinking, drug use and disorderly behavior have been prevalent in Vail in recent years on Independence Day.
Those problems have been “often exacerbated by the absence of parental supervision, as many parents are located in the Denver area rather than in Vail.”
In 2024, a 10:30 p.m. curfew was initiated for guests under 18, along with several other new measures, including bolstered law enforcement presence at key locations and the utilization of advanced surveillance technologies in high-traffic areas.
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One of the problem areas is the Solaris Plaza, where so many kids will gather that they prevent the town buses from properly navigating Meadow Drive. Kenney said this year’s crowds in Solaris Plaza fluctuated between an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 people.
“A lot of times we have these kids at Solaris and we tell them to leave, we tell them to go somewhere else, and they ask ‘where do you want us to go?'” Kenney told the Vail Town Council in March.
A concert was held this year at Gondola One in an attempt to provide a place for youth to hang out, as a response. The show went from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and featured DJ Mandy.
