Justin Bieber Concertgoers Cram Fair

It's pandemonium in Timonium. Hurricane Bieber is here. 

Thousands of fans are lining the streets to get into the Maryland State Fair. Not to ride the rides, or eat the food. But to see pop sensation–who else?–Justin Bieber.

If you are not familiar with the craze that Bieber has inspired you only have to ask the fans. The story is as old as rock music itself. Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jackson. Add Bieber to the list.

Just ask 16-year-old Bieber's contemporaries: Jordan Kudisch, 12, Molly Wilson, 14, Belle Staggs, 12, and Dina Marrakchi, 12. The Ellicott City friends are waiting to get in carrying fresly baked "Bieber cookies." 

"I love Justin Bieber because he's like hot and the perfect package," Jordan says. 
Says Molly: "He can sing, play the piano, and raps better than Usher."

Dina agrees, but is also taken by that one special feature that has made the 16-year-old Bieber's face so recognizable.

"He has amazing hair and he only spends ten minutes a day blowdrying," she says. 

Sydney Emerson, 12; Shelby Emerson, 16; Allison Williams, 15; and Miranda Weissman, 12, came early from Severn. 

"I'm in love with Justin because he's hot and everything he does is really hot and he has the hottest music," says Sydney Emerson.

Abbie Messina, 13, of Port Republic, and Gemma Peterson, 14, of Bowie, echo those feelings.

"Justin is super sexy and sings amazing," says Abbie. 

"love him for the exact same reason," adds Gemma.

Police have been preparing for this moment for weeks. 

The 8 p.m. show, which sold out in 18 minutes weeks ago, closes out Bieber's national tour as well as the Maryland State Fair's concert series.

Bieber–surprise, surprise–could not be reached for comment.

Expect to see a traffic nightmare today as the 12,000 ticket holders, Labor Day weekend travelers descend on the fair today. Gates for the infield concert don't even open until 5:30 p.m.

The weather, as predicted, is perfect.

Baltimore County police and fairgrounds administrators have said they are ready. They have been preparing for the event for weeks to accommodate the throng of pedestrians and cars certain to converge on the fair throughout the day.

"When we sold that many tickets we started thinking about what were people going to do," said Howard "Max" Mosner, president and general manager of the Maryland State Fair.

The last time Mosner said he dealt with a concert of comparable size was when the fairgrounds hosted the band Switchfoot–a show that he said overwhelmed the staff.

"The difference with Bieber is that we are ready," he said.

The expected 12,000 ticket holders will all be given color-coded bracelets with instructions explaining when and where they need to be in line. The bracelets also allow patrons to exit and re-enter the fair. Fair officials will allow groups of 1,000 people to enter the racetrack infield through two entryways at various times. 

Mosner said his office has fielded a number of phone calls regarding camping out in line. While he said that there will be no camping on the property, he does expect a line to form early Sunday morning.

"If the folks cooperate with us and the system does what we expect it will, we'll have everybody in the concert before 7 o'clock and nobody will have had to wait in line for more than 15 minutes," he said.

The fairgrounds opened at 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

In addition to concert-day protocol, added security measures are being taken to protect the interior and exterior of fairgrounds property.

Contemporary Services Corp., a nationally recognized security provider, will deploy 80 staff members for crowd management at the concert.

In addition, 10 Baltimore County Police officers will be stationed inside and outside, along the perimeter of the grounds, for a total of 27 officers serving in shifts throughout the day.

"Our concern is the traffic," said police Capt. Martin Lurz. "For people who are not familiar with Timonium or they're coming from out-of-state, where are they going to park? Where are they going to drop their kids off? What are they going to do after they drop their kids off? The whole nine yards."

There are only 2,000 parking spaces on the property, which may cause backups and traffic jams along the York Road corridor.

Baltimore County police are assisting state police, who have been managing traffic issues and shuttling pedestrians across York Road all week.

"We just hope that people have a lot of patience and understand that it's going to be pretty crowded down there," Lurz said. "If this thing plays out the way they anticipate, with the amount of people that are coming, it's going to be a little locked up."

Paul Manna, a concert promoter for 24-7 Entertainment, said Bieber fans are coming from as far away as Texas.

 "I think it's very, very exciting on a lot of levels: for the State Fair, for Justin Bieber fans," Manna said. "He's certainly in line with superstar artists out there, the biggest names in show business. He's selling as many tickets."

All ticket holders will also be given a discount on ride packages, a promotional effort to keep them at the fair during the day. Mosner said the property can support the added masses of people.

"We've engineered a lot of things for these folks to do so they can come and spend the day," he said. "It's magic and that's all you can say."