BRRF

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Blue Ridge Rock Festival?

Did you all follow any part of it?

I know probably a dozen or so people that went including not so mini me (son). Never liked big crowds of people even tho I've seen many a concert in my time. 🗣️ speaking of in my time they had these multi day festivals but I refused to commit my hard earned cash to any event held outdoors.

Tickets now are in the hundreds per day plus lodging and travel food etc. Not Woodstock by any stretch but can you imagine the cost of four days of this and 3 canceled for weather?

Burning Man was also a shit show. Literally.

[minx]

Yeah - if I'm attending an outdoor event, first things I look for are alternative exits, and places to shelter if need be.

And I stay the hell away from crowds. May not be able to get a clear view of the stage, but as long as I can hear the tunes, I'm okay.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Check this out-
www.wdbj7.com/2023/09/12/wdbj7-investigates-blue-ridge-rock-festival-canceled-after-nearly-200-stagehand-workers-strike/

[minx]

Whoa Nelly! I'm kind of shocked that they waited that long to walk out.

I don't know how you could enforce it, but these large festivals should be required to show that they have adequate facilities set up before crew arrive (should be the first priority), and a clear evacuation plan in case of emergencies. They also should be required to have folks who do nothing but walk around with water for anyone who needs it.

When I went to the Pride festival downtown this summer, the organizers had arranged for a fire and rescue crew to be on site - they were walking around with coolers of iced water bottles and giving them out to anyone who needed them.

If you notice, with both Burning Man and this shitshow, there appears to have been no evacuation plan, and no plan for inclement weather.
One thing that should be required for vendors is that any tents or pop-ups be firmly secured to the ground - when I did events, I never did that, and I should have. I was lucky not to have gotten caught in really bad weather - the only time I came close was on the 4th one year downtown - the skies started to darken and I said "Self, time to pack this shit up!" - got the last table into the car, shut the hatch and the heavens opened. My pop-up canopy would have been ripped to shreds (assuming no one was hit by it).

[Dave's Not Here Man]

This particular event has a history of significant problems. This year they changed location to VIR, which you'd think was better suited in terms of traffic and crowd management as well as the facilities in general to handle the expected crowd. It's starting to look like they used the weather as their patsy to cancel since the policy was no refunds for weather related cancellations, when in fact its likely that the walkout was at least equally, if not moreso to blame.

I'd not issue any further permits, leases, rents, bonds, or anything that the organizers and I use that term loosely, for events in VA or NC, which have both been host to that festival. Or at least until they have comprehensive and detailed plans for not one, but all contingencies that may arise from the day they first set foot on the property until the last piece of trash left behind has been picked up and disposed of properly. And they need to set up and prove they have the resources in both money and personnel to pull off an event.

Funny thing is there are music festivals going on around the country every weekend all year long and you rarely hear about logistics being a huge problem anywhere else except for BRRF. Burning Man was an anomaly because not very many people plan for hurricanes in Nevada

[minx]

Nailed it!

And I think the biggest issue with BM (other than being unable to evacuate anyone having a medical emergency due to the deep mud) was the celebrities who were bitching about it.

But yeah - put money in escrow to cover all security and infrastructure in order to get a permit.
Prove that you've budgeted for enough fencing, port-a-potties, sinks or hand sanitizer stations and trash cans for everyone.
Then show you have the money for things like portable showers and rest areas for workers who will have to be there overnight.
Show your full emergency evacuation plan with a list of what employee will be responsible for what.

Then MAYBE they can get a permit.