My fiance and I both carried at the Wine and Harvest Festival in Paw Paw this weekend. We spent Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon in the festival area. We did not even go near the beer tents as neither one of us has our CPL yet. We got several looks from people and a few whispered "He had a gun!" statements but no one really seemed to care to much that we were both walking around with guns at our sides. Even our friends and family didn't seem to notice right away, which I found interesting.
On Saturday night we were in the area with the carnival rides and I was approached by a security officer from a private security company contracted for the event. He asked me "What is that all about?" as he pointed to my holster. I took a deep breath to give myself a second to remind myself that I was not breaking any laws and to think of an appropriate way to answer but he continued "Is it because of the whole open carry thing?" and I replied "Yes, Sir." He said that was fine he just wanted to make sure that everything was ok. He also asked if I had a CPL and when I told him that I did not he reminded me that I would need to unload the gun and lock it in the trunk when I left. I thanked him and he told me to have a good night. It seemed as though he did not even notice that my fiance was carrying also, judging by the conversation and the fact that nothing was said to her but she had moved along with her family towards some other rides while I was talking to the security officer. As I was walking to rejoin my group I was passed by a bike cop for the Paw Paw police and nothing was said. While we were waiting for the others in our group to get off the ride I noticed that 2 Paw Paw squad cars and the bike cop were talking with the security officer who had just questioned me but they all left without questioning me further.
As a whole it was a great experience and we both agree that we feel more comfortable with carrying in public and look forward to doing so in the future.
