Officials: No 'Insane Clown' trouble at county fair

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

Allegany County officials are planning to keep followers of a music group known as the Insane Clown Posse from causing issues at the Allegany County Fair this year. The followers are known as Juggalos.

A few followers were at the fair last year, although they did not cause any problems, said Allegany County Sheriff Craig Robertson.

“They look like mimes. You don’t think about those things until problems arise,” Robertson said. “There’s no issue, but we want to be proactive on it.”

The sherriff and fair officials want to prevent any trouble. Robertson said the group’s followers have caused problems at other venues.

Danny Williams of Mount Savage asked commissioners to amend the county fair rules to limit masks and “identity-disguising face paint” from the fairgrounds.

Williams said the new rule would not affect face painting by churches and charitable groups for children, but only cases where identity would be completely obscured.

The Insane Clown Posse is a hip-hop music group from Detroit. Their followers often wear masks of face-covering paint.

The FBI has listed the group as a gang, although that decision has been disputed by the band and their followers.

The FBI classifies Juggalos as a hybrid gang, which is loosely organized.

“Most crimes committed by Juggalos are sporadic, disorganized, individualistic, and often involve simple assault, personal drug use and possession, petty theft, and vandalism. However, open source reporting suggests that a small number of Juggalos are forming more organized subsets and engaging in more gang-like criminal activity,” according to the FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment

This year’s fair runs July 13 through 20.