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Review : Wemf 2005 : Orangeville County Fairground (pg. 10)
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| VERTiG0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
"Marshmallows have high utility. You can eat them and play with them." |
Hahahah oh jesus. Those marshmallows were tasty. |
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| rabbitjoker |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
"Marshmallows have high utility. You can eat them and play with them." |
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :eyespop: |
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| feems |
| quote: | Originally posted by preppie chick
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dude i know one of the girls too lol the one on the far right atleast she looks like this girl i know who was at wemf too , tooo funnny lmfao
yeah def the sexiest photo lol |
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| feems |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
"Marshmallows have high utility. You can eat them and play with them." |
yes remember how squishy and nice it was then u put it in ur mouth and arghh |
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| DJ_Ampz |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
"Marshmallows have high utility. You can eat them and play with them." |
I think those were my marshmellows ;)
Ampz |
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| Jem_hadar |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ_Ampz
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Dude, just got a chance to pop in your CD you handed out at wemf, brilliant intro. Only heard about 10 mins of it so far, but very impressed.
Noice job man. Thanks.
-=jem=- |
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| MaxTO |
| quote: |
By Nicole Montreuil
A reported 5,000 rave-goers descended on the Orangeville Agricultural Fairgrounds last weekend with their tents, sleeping bags, and who-knows-what-else, for the 11th annual World Electronic Music Festival.
And while the ravers were releasing pent-up energy, complaints by sleepless neighbours about the constant thumping of the "bassline" throughout the night descended on Mono council and police.
The thumping was particularly bad in Cardinal Woods, but could be felt or heard for at least a mile around.
Dufferin OPP reported five arrests attributable to the ravers over the course of the weekend - two public intoxication charges, two driving under the influence of alcohol charges, and one very lucky car thief.
But to Ryan Kruger, the promoter and organizer, the rave was a success, all in all. He downplayed the snags - he didn't think there were many - dismissing them as all part of the learning curve involved in using a new venue.
"There were a couple of issues that arose," he said, citing "a bit of noise bleed into the surrounding community" as one of the biggest.
Mono deputy mayor Dave Baldwin wasn't surprised. Mr. Baldwin objected to giving permission for the event at Mono council months ago, and said Monday he'd heard complaints from several residents.
He lives not far from the Fairgrounds, so he understood the complaints:
"I got up at 3:30 a.m. and heard a 'thunk-thunk-thunk' and I'm about a mile from the fairgrounds as the crow flies."
For neighbours living even closer, Mr. Baldwin imagined the show made quite a ruckus - almost as much noise, in fact, as Destiny Production's talk of making the Fairgrounds the festival's permanent home.
He was adamant that Mono residents wouldn't allow the show back next year.
"I think there will be an insurrection if they think that's going to happen," he said. "If they tried to recreate that next year or any year after that, there would certainly be an outcry."
Mono Mayor Keith Thompson wasn't as quick to dismiss the idea of a repeat. He observed that from Woodstock to the original Gay Pride Parade in downtown Toronto, there have always been local residents opposed to the start-up of a new festival:
"For the first Gay Pride Parade in Toronto, the only people who lined the street weren't there to cheer them on."
WEMF has switched locations across the province for almost a dozen years, building the show's underground mystique by elaborating on the rave subculture's appeal.
But Destiny wants a permanent home for the festival now and has said the Fairgrounds looks ideal.
Mayor Thompson said the challenge - if it's to be an annual event - was to keep a balance between residents' desire for peace and quiet and youth seeking an outlet for pent-up energy.
That observation - that today's kids need events like the electronica festival to blow off a little steam in the way their baby- boomer parents needed love-ins and folk festivals like Woodstock - came up among several people involved in WEMF's organization here.
"Every generation, I swear, goes through the process at least once," Mayor Thompson said."It's an issue that will obviously have to involve council."
He pointed out that noise complaints aren't new in Mono, and suggested that the town may already have set a precedent for dealing with loud functions.
He recalled that Mono residents used to get up in arms against car rallies, so the town passed a bylaw that allows car rallies, but only two a year and required events to be granted a town permit, something Mayor Thompson said would be a precedent worth considering if WEMF requires further study.
For Brenda Teeter, who lives on the Fairgrounds property, the problems with WEMF were more than just a learning curve.
They were a sign that the electronic music festival just isn't suitable for a residential area like the one around the Fairgrounds.
Ms. Teeter's Chevy Envoy was stolen from her garage Saturday afternoon. The keys were in it at the time, and the family was in the backyard by the pool, watching the kids at the rave.
She said she'd left the keys in the vehicle, but she'd left the vehicle "in my garage, which is inside my house." She said the garage door had been opened and closed all day.
The Envoy ended up in the ditch on the fourth line of Mono, south of 5 Sideroad, where it had been driven off the road, rolled end over end into a fence and caught fire.
Passers-by stopped and saw a youth climbing out of the ditch who identified himself as a rave-goer. He was taken to Headwaters Health Care Centre, treated for non-serious injuries, and then held in OPP custody. Drugs or alcohol were thought to be involved.
Destiny Productions had offered to put up Ms. Teeter's family and two others on the Fairgrounds in a hotel for the length of the show.
Friday night, she opted not to use the room booked for her at Hockey Valley Resort, instead staying in her home because she "didn't feel safe" leaving it alone.
She changed her mind after the theft, and spent Saturday night at the resort, but her son and daughter stayed home to guard the house.
Destiny Productions promoters refused to comment on the incident involving the Teeters' Envoy, except to say that in 10 years of hosting events, they'd never had it happen before and now that it has, future event security will be "retooled" to prevent a recurrence.
Ms. Teeter is driving a rental at Destiny's expense until her insurance company deals with the claim.
"He offered to buy me a brand new car," she said of Mr. Kruger. "But like I said, I haven't heard from him since."
She expects her insurance company to get back to her sometime in the next week.
She emphasized that anger over the event was "not just me - it's the whole neighbourhood. Every neighbour's got a story to tell."
Ms. Teeter, and another resident, said the promoter didn't have enough security to adequately patrol the grounds and the security promised to safeguard her house never materialized.
They watched the backyard pool, she said, but not the front-yard entrance into the garage.
Mr. Kruger said the Teeters had requested only that security watch their backyard pool, which lay within sight of the ravers.
As for the drugs, violence and other problems expected from the rave-goers, reports varied.
Dufferin OPP reported five rave-related arrests over three days, including the theft of the Envoy.
A caller said a person she knew at Headwaters Health Care Centre told her staff had detected drugs they'd never seen before among rave-goers who had come or been brought there.
The same person said her mailbox had been stuffed with garbage, and that she'd seen police questioning a group of youths on her way into Orangeville, and on her return saw luggage on the road and the youths in handcuffs.
She also reported that the fence on the old road right-of-way on the north side of Island Lake had been cut and rolled back - something one raver said was just a case of people wanting to go swimming in lieu of showers.
Others were seen trespassing on private property.
"Where was the security?" she wondered.
Those attending WEMF signed a waiver before entry agreeing to several restrictions while at the event.
One such restriction specified that anyone caught trespassing on neighbouring properties would be evicted from the event and subject to criminal charges.
At Headwaters, spokesperson Kathryn Hunt said that while the emergency room did have to cope with a 30 per cent patient-load increase over the weekend, it was impossible to tie the increase to any one event.
"As you know, we had three large events in town," she said. "It was a very busy weekend for emergency staff.
She said 20 to 30 more patients came to emergency each day over the weekend.
Asked about the report of people overdosed on strange drugs, she declined to comment, saying that Canada's new privacy act prevents hospital staff from discussing individual cases - a policy that seemed to extend to the more general question asked.
On the other hand, Dufferin OPP Sergeant Chris Maecker was at the festival for part of the weekend, and said that aside from handling the neighbours' noise complaints, there wasn't much for police to do.
"Our big concern at the time was how loud music was going to be. We weren't sure about that. It was organized, but I was certainly sympathetic to residents in the area as far as noise goes."
Aside from off-duty officers on-site to provide additional security, the OPP also brought in special teams to secure the area.
Emergency response units, crime units, property crime units, and RIDE units helped secure the entire rave area, though some RIDE units set up on Hockley Valley Road near Airport Road.
At its peak, there were 30 to 40 officers involved.
RIDE units stopped five intoxicated drivers, two rave-related, and all involving alcohol rather than drugs.
Two arrests for public intoxication were made inside WEMF, as well.
Those figures were small comfort to Ms. Teeter, who also took issue with the state the grounds were in when the ravers left Sunday.
"I've never had to keep my garage door shut all through the fall fair," she said. "And you never saw any garbage when you woke up in the morning."
Harold "Sandy" Sanderson, manager of the Fairgrounds, said the grounds looked pretty much like he expected they would when he arranged for the rental with Mr. Kruger - 5,000 people sharing a confined space for three days is bound to leave something of a mess.
One of the Fairgrounds clean-up crew said the post-WEMF litter is nothing compared to the televised shots of post-Live 8, and WEMF lasted three times as long.
Clean-up crews were expected to finish by week's end. One Fairgrounds representative said the only reason clean-up took so long was the heat wave, which made working outside for long periods almost impossible.
Mr. Sanderson said comparing WEMF to other concerts held at the Fairgrounds was like "comparing apples and oranges."
He said the ravers left the building in excellent condition.
"I've had worse than that at weddings," he said.
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| The Highroller |
Upset about your car being stolen? How's about not leaving your keys in your car with the garage door open? No matter how hard the author tries to paint Ms. Teeter as the victim, I can't help but laugh at her stupidity. It just so happened that WEMF patron did this, but I'm sure if eventually her car would have been stolen if she regularly kept her keys in her car and her garage door open.
What other incidents are there? Garbage in a mailbox? A broken fence? Please. This WEMF was pretty successful in terms of incidents if you ask me.
I also like how the manager of the Fairgrounds' compliments and praise for WEMF patrons is at the very bottom of the article.
No matter well a WEMF goes, there will always be an article in the host area's newspaper bitching about it. |
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| amb_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
No matter well WEMF goes, there will always be an article in the paper bitching about it. |
I agree.
Of the 7 WEMFs I've been to, this had to be the best organised and smoothest run. I really do hope Orangeville will have us back next year... |
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| halo20 |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
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well said... |
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| zoogla |
I wasn't at WEMF so I can't comment on how smooth it went but seeing the way it was organized from the forum and knowing that TOTAs were involved in its execution makes me think it was damn good.
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
Upset about your car being stolen? How's about not leaving your keys in your car with the garage door open? No matter how hard the author tries to paint Ms. Teeter as the victim, I can't help but laugh at her stupidity. It just so happened that WEMF patron did this, but I'm sure if eventually her car would have been stolen if she regularly kept her keys in her car and her garage door open. |
Although I totally see the naivity of leaving keys in your car at the border of such a huge event as a bit foolish, I still think this is small-town Ontario and perhaps she just wanted to live life the way she normally would (which I wouldn't blame her for). IMO it's not very realistic, but in a town where the deputy mayor says, "I'm about a mile from the fairgrounds as the crow flies," it seems very small and kinda cute! :p So people can be trusting and leave the doors unlocked and their keys in the car, I guess. I didn't feel so harsh towards the lady.
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
I also like how the manager of the Fairgrounds' compliments and praise for WEMF patrons is at the very bottom of the article.
No matter well a WEMF goes, there will always be an article in the host area's newspaper bitching about it. |
I also didn't find the tone of this article too critical. Yes, they pointed out the arrests and noise and theft, but throughout it was referring to Destiny's response and excellent organization. Putting her in a hotel, paying for her rental; responding to the security issue by saying it will improve to avoid similar incidents in the future; all paint a very positive picture of the management.
Yes, the best part was left till the end but I don't think that's on purpose; perhaps in a narrative it makes sense to place the "end" of the event (i.e. the clean-up part) in the conclusion of the article, which leaves you with a positive flavour...
I guess it's my "I don't hate anyone" attitude :p but although I agree there are some criticisms, I think the article did a good job portraying the good as well as the bad. |
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| amb_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by fayraree
Although I totally see the naivity of leaving keys in your car at the border of such a huge event as a bit foolish, I still think this is small-town Ontario and perhaps she just wanted to live life the way she normally would (which I wouldn't blame her for). IMO it's not very realistic, but in a town where the deputy mayor says, "I'm about a mile from the fairgrounds as the crow flies," it seems very small and kinda cute! :p So people can be trusting and leave the doors unlocked and their keys in the car, I guess. I didn't feel so harsh towards the lady. |
That's one thing I still have to try hard to get used to and I moved up north in February. No one locks their cars or houses, it's pretty interesting... |
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