TOLEDO, Ohio — Next weekend, thousands of people will travel to downtown Toledo to celebrate Pride. With those large groups come planning to make sure everyone is safe.
"We always are striving to make the event safe. We have Toledo Police, they always work really closely with us and we also hire private security," Executive Director of Pride Lexi Hayman-Staples said.
Hayman-Staples and her group of volunteers are getting ready for the 10th anniversary Toledo Pride. On the heels of the shootings in Dayton,she said safety concerns come first.
"Any event planner at this point knows safety is supreme and something that takes great importance and you really have to be sure that you're paying attention to your surroundings," Hayman-Staples said.
Toledo Police Chief George Kral said their department has a plan for when thousands of people head out for the weekend-long event.
"We're going to make sure we have sufficient officers there, we'll have our mobile cameras there, we're going to do everything humanly possible to make sure everyone who's down there is safe," Chief Kral said.
The popular bars during the celebration, like Georgjz419 are also taking precautions.
"In Georgjz's we have doubled in security we're going to have people at the doors front and back and wandering through the bar," Owner George Thompson said.
Hayman-Staples wants people to remember, the reason they take so many precautions is so you can have a good time and feel safe.
"10 years of Toledo Pride, we're very excited," Hayman-Staples said.
Pride will also be partnering up with Toledo Fire to make sure paramedics are on site for any medical emergencies.