The chain-link fencing went up along East Parkway two weeks ago. Portable toilets arrived last Wednesday. And somewhere in a trailer near the old Mid-South Fairgrounds, now called Liberty Park, a team of event coordinators is staring at maps, counting entrances, and hoping the weather cooperates.
Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Festival kicks off this weekend, April 29 through May 1, at its temporary home while Tom Lee Park undergoes a massive redesign along the riverfront. The move from Downtown to the midtown fairgrounds changes the security equation in ways that matter. Different entry points, different neighborhood dynamics, different crowd flow patterns.
Whether you’re working security for BSMF or planning your own Memphis event, the fundamentals of event security don’t change. What does change is how you apply them. I spent the last week talking with security coordinators, venue managers, and off-duty MPD officers who’ve worked these events for years. Here’s what good event security actually looks like.
Start With the Venue Assessment
Every security plan begins with walking the site. Not looking at a map, not studying satellite images. Walking it. On foot. During the time of day your event will run.
Liberty Park covers about 100 acres of the former fairgrounds property off East Parkway South. For Beale Street Music Festival, organizers expect more than 100,000 attendees across three days. The site has multiple vehicle access points from Central Avenue, Southern Avenue, and East Parkway. Each one needs a plan.
For smaller events at venues like the Landers Center in Southaven, the Orpheum Theatre on Beale Street, or even outdoor gatherings at Shelby Farms Park, the same principle applies. Walk the venue. Count every door, gate, loading dock, and maintenance entrance. A security plan that only covers the front door isn’t a security plan.
During your walkthrough, note these specifics:
Sight lines. Where can you see the crowd? Where can’t you? Blind spots need cameras or roving patrols.
Choke points. Where do people naturally bunch up? Narrow paths between stages, concession areas, bathroom clusters. These are where problems start.
Terrain. At Liberty Park, the ground isn’t perfectly flat. Some areas hold water after rain. Others have uneven paving from decades of fairground use. A crowd moving fast during an evacuation on uneven ground in the dark is a recipe for injuries.
Neighbors. Liberty Park sits in a residential area. Houses line the streets just beyond the fencing. Your security perimeter doesn’t just protect the event from outsiders. It protects the neighborhood from the event.
Staffing Numbers: The Math That Matters
The industry standard for general admission events runs between one security officer per 50 to 100 attendees, depending on the event type. A jazz concert at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park needs fewer guards per head than a hip-hop festival with a younger crowd and alcohol sales.
For a three-day music festival expecting 30,000 to 40,000 people per day, the security team needs to be substantial. Consider these positions:
Entry gate screeners. Each gate needs at least two people working bag checks and two handling metal detector wands. If you’ve got six entry points, that’s 24 people just on gates. Add supervisors and relief staff, and you’re closer to 35.
Perimeter patrol. Someone has to walk the fence line. For a 100-acre site, plan on eight to 10 perimeter officers per shift, staggered so no section goes more than 15 minutes without a visual check.
Stage front. Each performance stage needs a dedicated team in the pit area. Crowd surfers, people getting crushed against barriers, medical emergencies in the front rows. Four to six officers per stage, more for headliner sets.
Roving teams. Groups of two or three that circulate through the crowd, watching for fights, medical issues, or suspicious behavior. One team per 5,000 attendees is a reasonable starting point.
Command post. At least two people staffing a central coordination point with radio communication to all teams, medical staff, and local law enforcement.
Add it up for a major festival, and you’re looking at 150 to 250 security personnel per day. That doesn’t include off-duty police, EMTs, or fire safety officers.
Tennessee Licensing: Don’t Skip This Step
Tennessee’s Department of Commerce and Insurance regulates private security through the Private Protective Services division. Every security guard working an event in Tennessee must be registered with the state. The company employing them must hold a valid guard company license.
For unarmed guards, the requirements include being at least 18 years old, passing a criminal background check through TBI and FBI fingerprint processing, and having no disqualifying felony convictions. Armed guards face additional requirements, including firearms training and qualification with specific weapons they’ll carry on duty.
Event organizers sometimes try to cut corners here, hiring unregistered “security” from local staffing agencies or off-the-books workers. This is a liability nightmare. If an unregistered guard injures someone or fails to prevent an incident, the event organizer’s insurance likely won’t cover the claim. The state can also pursue the company for operating without proper licensing.
Check credentials before the event, not during. Ask your security provider for their TDCI license number and verify it online through the state’s licensing portal. Request documentation showing each guard’s registration is current.
Metal Detectors and Bag Checks: Doing Them Right
The security checkpoint is where most attendees form their first impression of your event’s safety posture. It’s also where most event security fails.
Common mistakes I’ve watched happen at Memphis events:
Undertrained screeners. Bag checks require consistency. Every bag gets opened. Every pocket gets checked. I’ve watched gate staff at local events glance at the top of a purse and wave someone through. That’s not a bag check. That’s theater.
Slow lanes. If your metal detector screening takes more than 15 seconds per person, your lines will stretch back to the parking lot. Have dedicated lanes for people with no bags. Move faster.
VIP bypass with no screening. VIP ticket holders still need to pass through security. Full stop. A shorter line, faster service, a smile and a “welcome” from staff. Fine. But they go through the detector and their bags get checked.
No secondary screening area. When a detector alarm goes off, you need a step-aside area where an officer can do a more thorough check without blocking the flow. A folding table, two officers, slight privacy from the main line.
Handheld wand detectors run about $30 to $50 each. Walk-through portal detectors rent for $200 to $500 per day depending on the vendor. For a major event, the cost is negligible compared to the liability of skipping the step entirely.
Emergency Evacuation: Plan for What Went Wrong Saturday Night
The Beale Street Music Festival learned this lesson in real time. Saturday night, April 30, severe weather rolled into the Memphis area and forced a temporary evacuation of the fairgrounds. Around 11 p.m., officials lifted the order and let fans back in, but for a stretch of time, thousands of people were moving through a dark, unfamiliar venue trying to reach their vehicles.
Every outdoor event in Memphis needs a weather contingency plan. The city sits at the confluence of weather patterns that produce severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flash flooding from March through October. Pretending the weather will cooperate is not a strategy.
Your evacuation plan should include:
Designated shelter areas. For Liberty Park, the existing buildings on the fairgrounds property can hold a limited number of people. For events at open venues like Shelby Farms or Tom Lee Park, you need to identify nearby hard structures and communicate those locations to attendees before they need them.
Announcement protocols. Who makes the call to evacuate? How is it communicated? PA systems, stage announcements, text alerts to ticket holders, social media posts. Have all channels ready and tested.
Exit routes. Map at least two evacuation routes from every section of the venue. Print them. Post them at information booths. Brief every security officer on the routes during pre-event meetings.
Reunification points. Families get separated during evacuations. Designate specific locations where people can meet up after clearing the venue. Mark them on the event map.
Resumption criteria. If weather passes, who decides when it’s safe to let people back in? The National Weather Service issues all-clear guidance, but someone at the event has to make the final call. That person needs to be identified in advance, not decided in the moment.
Communication Is the Whole Game
I’ve covered dozens of events across the Memphis area, from small corporate gatherings at the Peabody Hotel to massive productions at FedExForum. The single biggest difference between events that handle problems well and events that fall apart is communication.
Every security officer needs a radio. Not some, not most. Every single one. Cheap two-way radios run $25 each. For a 200-person security team, that’s $5,000. If you can’t afford radios for your entire security team, you can’t afford to run the event.
Establish clear radio channels. One for general operations, one for medical emergencies, one for command staff. Train everyone on radio discipline before the event. Short transmissions, clear language, no chatter.
Post your command structure. Every officer should know who their supervisor is, how to reach the command post, and what to do if communications fail. For outdoor events where radio coverage can get spotty near metal structures or in low-lying areas, have backup communication plans.
The Day-Of Checklist
Before gates open, run through this list:
- All security posts staffed and confirmed by radio check
- Metal detectors tested and functioning
- Bag check stations set up with adequate lighting
- Medical station locations confirmed and staffed
- Weather monitoring active with designated decision-maker identified
- Law enforcement liaison on-site and connected to your command channel
- Perimeter fence walked and inspected for gaps or damage
- Parking lot security in position
- Credential verification complete for all security personnel
- Emergency exit gates unlocked and accessible from inside
After the Event
Collect incident reports within 24 hours while memories are fresh. Debrief with your security team leads. What worked? What didn’t? Where were the gaps?
If you’re running a multi-day event like Memphis in May, the debrief between Day 1 and Day 2 is where real improvements happen. Saturday night’s weather evacuation at BSMF will almost certainly reshape how Sunday’s security plan gets executed.
The best event security doesn’t make headlines. Nobody writes about the festival where nothing went wrong. That’s the goal. Make it boring. Make it safe. Make the headlines about the music, the food, and the good time people had along East Parkway this spring.