Tuesday Morning

“The party is over! Please leave and come back next year!” a voice booms over a bullhorn from a golf cart rolling through the festival camping area. The festival has been over for twenty-four hours and yet I can still see camps set up in the festival camping area. There is one food vendor still serving food, mostly to the remaining staff but clearly some very sleepy party die hards are in the line up. I was told a man came out of the woods without his clothes and staff members were looking for something for him to wear. This is not all that unusual considering the size and scope of the festival, however something that some people might find surprising is the piles of garbage that was left behind.

I was informed that it would take a month to clean up after this festival. In past years, a more nature conscious crowd clean-up after themselves better, but as the demographic changed, the garbage increased. Looking around the camping area I saw whole campsites simply abandoned. I also saw many broken folding camp chairs lying about. In one area someone had tipped a dumpster over, which could have been used to mitigate some of the mess. It is a consequence of our disposable society and a demographic of young adults who are used to having their every need catered to. Luckily there are still many volunteers ready to step up and help with the clean up, it is just unfortunate that a few more guests could not have appreciated the efforts needed to put on a festival of this magnitude and done a very simple thing and packed out what they packed in.

On a more positive note, all the food that was not used at the end of the festival, at least one refrigerated truck load, was donated to local food banks. Festival organizers felt it was the right thing to do and is part of their efforts to contribute to the community.

Daniel