A Main Street Festival for the History Books

Diane Mezzanotte
Jul 10
10 min read

Updated: Jul 16

Photos by Charles Sisler/Soft Reflections Vision Solutions

The morning of May 10 started out as the perfect Spring day: sunshine, clear skies, and a forecast of moderate temperatures perfect for strolling in downtown Laurel for the 44th annual Main Street Festival. No one could have predicted that two unforeseen and unfortunate events would launch the small-town festival onto local channels and Facebook timelines across the nation by the end of the day.

Propane Explosion Leads to Parade Cancellation, Partial Street Closure

Just before 7:15 am, as vendors were setting up their booths, a propane tank exploded at a food stand near the corner of Fourth and Main Streets. An eyewitness described seeing liquid leaking from a propane tank at the booth of The Ocean Grill & More, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based vendor; he also saw a man desperately trying to shut off the tank’s gas flow valve. Within seconds, the leaking fuel ignited with a sound that nearby vendor Enika Barnes will not soon forget. “I heard a ‘whoosh!’ and then it just went KABOOM!” she said, “and then the entire tent was covered in flames. The trees, the wires, everything was in flames.”

Barnes, who owns Enika’s Essentials LLC, said she heard three separate explosions. She credits another vendor for taking quick and decisive action: “A woman a few tents down is a former dispatcher. She called 911 and gave them the rundown. The fire department was here right away.”

First responders at first thought no one had been injured, but Enika and others informed them of the man who had been seen at the tanks just before the explosion. Later identified as Youssef Dechari, owner of the business, the injured man was found nearby, in shock. He was stabilized and taken by ambulance to the Johns Hopkins burn unit. According to family member Judy Tabti, Youssef underwent surgery and spent seven days in intensive care after suffering first- and second-degree burns over 24 percent of his body. Tabti started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his medical bills.

While vendors near the explosion were well aware of what was happening, many of those located further down Main Street had no idea an emergency had occurred. This included hundreds of people lining up along Sixth Street preparing for the 9:00 am kickoff parade that traditionally starts the festivities: Laurel Boys and Girls Club cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, church groups, local politicians, and the lead car carrying this year’s Grand Marshal, Maureen Rogers, from the Laurel Mill Playhouse. An announcement was made that the parade was canceled, and at about 9:00 am the City of Laurel issued a press release and posted multiple messages and videos to social media explaining the situation. As the story circulated, confusion arose because of conflicting reports about the festival’s status: some media outlets ran headlines implying the entire festival had been canceled, which led people on the scene to post videos showing people milling about the vendor booths.

Meanwhile, firefighters and crews from BGE and Verizon were still working at the site of the explosion—power lines had come down, electricity and internet services were knocked out, and an entire block was deemed unsafe. Festival organizers from the Laurel Board of Trade consulted with Mayor Keith Sydnor and emergency responders to determine the next steps. Ultimately, it was decided that the festival could continue, but with a modified route: barriers were put up to block off Main Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets, and a scramble began to relocate vendors affected by the closure.

Mayor Sydnor announced before 10:00 that the festival would go on, with a delayed start time of 11:00—but by that point, perhaps because of publicity surrounding the explosion, Main Street was already filled with people. Barnes, whose booth was relocated to the middle of Main Street adjacent to the blocked-off area, had mixed feelings about the decision. “Honestly, I would have preferred that they reschedule the entire event because of what happened,” she said. “But I also understand what it takes to put on something like this. It’s a beautiful day, and hopefully people will still come out.”

And come out, they did. By early afternoon, the view from Fifth Street looking west showed a sea of people stretching the whole way to Route 216—the site where the second emergency of the day had unfolded.

Police Respond Quickly to Stop Car Driven into Restricted Festival Area

Just before 9:45 am, festivalgoers and vendors near Patuxent Place Apartments were shocked to see a gray sedan trying to make its way through the crowd. A Laurel Police officer was in pursuit on foot, yelling at the car to stop as people screamed and moved out of the way. Almost immediately, additional police officers arrived, surrounded the car, and arrested the driver, who later was identified as 28-year-old Kai DeBerry-Bostick. One police officer was slightly injured when he was struck by DeBerry-Bostick’s car.

While the car was traveling slowly, and eyewitnesses recounting the event agreed there didn’t seem to be intent to do harm, the incident occurred while the Laurel Boys and Girls Club’s Wildcat cheerleaders were headed directly toward the car’s path. Disappointed by the cancellation of the official parade, they had formed an impromptu one of their own, performing a dance and poms routine while proceeding down the street; they had reached First United Methodist Church, less than a block away, as the police action was taking place.

Before long, social media was abuzz with photos and video of what had occurred. Local news and radio stations learned about the incident; some who had sent reporters to cover the fire wound up highlighting both events in their stories. (See sidebar below about how The Laurel History Boys inadvertently became part of that coverage.) The Laurel Police Department released bodycam footage showing the initial interaction between DeBerry-Bostick and an officer at the entrance to Patuxent Place’s parking lot, which was closed off with barrels and police tape. The officer is heard telling DeBerry-Bostick politely and repeatedly that she cannot drive onto Main Street, while she insists that she has to get to work. The policeman offers to call a taxi for her and even apologizes “for the inconvenience,” but an adamant DeBerry-Bostick gets out of the car, rips the yellow tape from a barrel, and turns left onto Main Street as the officer calls for backup. The footage then gets jumpy as the officer follows her on foot, while he and bystanders yell at her to stop. DeBerry-Bostick, meanwhile, can be heard saying “Excuse me, y’all” out the driver’s window as she drives into the festival spaces. The last shot of the footage shows her being removed from the car and led away in handcuffs.

DeBerry-Bostick was charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest, and other traffic violations. An Upper Marlboro judge denied bail initially, but she was later released after a bond appeal hearing. As of press time, was scheduled to appear in court on July 18.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the incident was the efficient and professional way in which the Laurel Police Department handled the matter, acting quickly to stop and surround the car, arrest the driver, and clear the area. Within minutes, there was no sign that anything had happened, and—just as with the earlier fire nearer the other end of Main Street—most attendees were unaware of the event until word began to spread.

The Laurel History Boys Unexpectedly Go Viral

For several years, The Laurel History Boys have manned a tent in front of Oliver’s Old Towne Tavern for the Main Street Festival. We sell our books and hand out copies of the latest Voices of Laurel, but our favorite part of the event is meeting community members and hearing their memories of living in Laurel. This year, history happened right in front of our eyes when Laurel police stopped a car being driven through the crowd and arrested its driver—literally a few feet from our booth.

One of our founding members, Richard Friend, recorded the incident with his phone and posted it to the Voices of Laurel Facebook page, commending Laurel Police for their quick action to protect festival attendees. Within minutes, the video began generating comments and being reposted. As it went viral, it caught the attention of local news media, including NBC4 and Fox5. Richard was interviewed by longtime reporters Darcy Spencer and Bob Barnard.

Richard described hearing yelling and a car horn blowing, then seeing people running. This led him and others to initially suspect a worst-case scenario was unfolding. However, he said, it soon became clear that “she was driving very slowly… so, not one of those [situations].” NBC4 aired the interview first, along with clips from Richard’s video and the full-length bodycam video released by the police.

Other media outlets picked up on the story. Richard and his video appeared on Inside Edition, were covered by the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, and garnered thousands of reactions on social media. Some outlets sensationalized the story, claiming inaccurately that the car had “barreled into a crowded festival.” Staff reporter Diane Mezzanotte was texted by her mother in rural Pennsylvania, who had caught a glimpse of her in the clip when the local NBC affiliate ran Darcy Spencer’s piece and wanted to ensure she was okay.

The reason for posting the video was to report some breaking local news and commend the Laurel Police Department. Knowing that we all have experienced bad days and made questionable judgments in our lives, we reached out to Ms. DeBerry-Bostick to give her the opportunity to share her thoughts on what happened. Probably at the advice of her lawyer, she did not respond. We truly wish her the best.

Careful Planning Saved the Day: Board of Trade Chairman Reflects on Eventful Festival

Jim Cross, Chairman of the Laurel Board of Trade, has led the organization’s Main Street Festival Committee for several years. On looking back at the 2025 festival, Cross called it “the most eventful one in 44 years.” Quick to praise all the first responders who handled the two emergencies, Cross noted that the Board of Trade has always worked closely with Laurel’s Police, Fire, and other city departments to ensure a safe and secure event. “We’ve always had emergency planning,” he said, “and of course the Police and Fire departments have their own plans as well.” Those plans take many things into consideration: crowd control, foot traffic, road closings, and “what if?” scenarios that might require evacuations or emergency response. Large trucks and other city vehicles are used to block vehicular access to side streets. Ambulances and fire trucks are placed at pre-determined, strategic locations to give them fast access to either end of Main Street while also allowing a quick exit if called to an emergency elsewhere. Police and firefighters are on hand all day, positioned along Main Street. This pre-staging was instrumental in the quick emergency response and containment in both incidents, Cross said.

There was also a certain degree of luck involved, Cross acknowledged. “Things were just getting set up, so there weren’t many people around the booth,” he said. “It’s also a good thing that particular vendor was located where he was, or we’d have probably had a lot of old houses on fire.” While many historic Main Street buildings are just a few feet from the curb, Cross explained, the house at Fourth and Main is set much further back and also has a lot of space between it and the neighboring properties, which include apartment buildings on one side and PNC Bank (formerly Citizens National Bank) on the other. Thus, despite the fire’s magnitude, the house was not damaged, although a pine tree in its front yard was severely burned.

Many street festivals and carnivals place all the food vendors together in one area, but Main Street Festival doesn’t do that. Cross, who personally assigns vendor locations, said that he spaces out food vendors along the entire length of the festival, both for customer convenience and to avoid direct competition between neighboring vendors. “We don’t want to have two ice cream vendors, for instance, right next to each other.” He says he shudders to think what could have happened if other vendors cooking on open grills had been placed next to each other. “Afterwards, I went back and looked at the vendor listings. We had 35 food vendors, and 15 of those 35 had propane tanks. It could have been so much worse.”

One other part of the safety plan also helped limit damage: all vendors with tents must show proof that their tents are made of fire-retardant material. This measure prevented the fire from jumping tent to tent, Cross noted. “We had burning debris and embers falling all around the explosion area. Some of it fell on other vendors’ tents, and so they had burn marks and holes in them. But none of them caught fire. That’s why we have that rule.”

Cross commended everyone who helped keep the festival running despite the two serious incidents, the effects of which were felt for the rest of the day. Volunteers stepped forward to guide people along the rerouted footpath. Vendors unaffected by the fire helped to move other vendors’ stands and products to new locations. And the BGE and Verizon crews managed to clear the fallen power lines in time for a partial reopening of Main Street at festival’s end. “We were concerned about what would happen after 4:00, when vendors were packing up and moving out,” Cross said, “Trying to move all those vehicles and trailers along the detour, with several turns and narrower streets, would have been a nightmare. But luckily the crews came through and we were able to avoid that.”

Cross was pleased with the festival’s good turnout. While there is no way to put an accurate number on attendance, “I thought it was very well attended, especially given all the things that happened.”

Looking Ahead to 2026

The Main Street Festival is the Board of Trade’s signature event, generating the bulk of the organization’s funding. Normally, planning for the next year’s festival would begin right away; however, the organization experienced a great loss shortly after this year’s festival when its President, Marilyn Johnson, passed away. Noting that Johnson was the lead planner for just about everything the Board of Trade does, Cross wasn’t sure how smoothly things will proceed without her or how long it will take to regroup. Another challenge, he said, is short staffing: the Board usually has 11 to 15 members but has been operating with just 8 members for a while. Nonetheless, Cross was optimistic things would work out, citing the dedication of those members and the Laurel community’s longstanding reputation for stepping up when needed.

Cross planned to review this year’s events to determine whether any tweaks are needed in the safety and security plans. He does not anticipate major changes, since things worked the way they should have and crisis was avoided. However, he hopes to work with the city to provide specific guidelines, and possibly training, for vendors on how to safely operate propane tanks.

One decision for next year has already been made: fellow Board of Trade member Maureen Rogers will be given a “do-over” for the 2026 parade and will serve as Grand Marshal.

Diane Mezzanotte is a staff writer and member of the Board of Directors for The Laurel History Boys. In addition to covering Laurel city municipal news, she also reports on all things from South Laurel.