The festivals I went to in Britain were filled with Charvers/Chavs/Neds. They were far better behaved than this despite having a reputation of being violent criminals in the press.
7 Likes
So captures the whole experience of living on the High Plains especially OK, TX panhandles.
I’d put it a little further east–broadly Eastern OK, but spilling over nicely into AR/TX/KS/MO.
2 Likes
30 drug and alcohol charges filed from a gathering of thousands is = to other festivals on the coasts.
I rest my case. Good day.
We can deride these fine gentleman and gentlewomen all we want, but … let’s be honest… given the chance, who wouldn’t want to sit on a lawn chair on the roof of their RV, beers in the cooler, tapping a foot to some twangy country tune. I know this is appealing to me.*
- at this moment, having been cooped up so long and devoid of human interaction and attractive women in Daisy Dukes. I’ll not partake in the amputations, beatings - though the impalements have me intrigued.
4 Likes
Probably not that different from Burning Man, in terms of arrests per capita.
7 Likes
Both seem to be in the ballpark of one arrest per 1000 attendees. Then again Burning Man has the highest concentration of law enforcement anywhere in the USA while the Sheriff at the Redneck festival didn’t seem to have that level of enforcement.
The original Burning Man was pretty darn similar, famously with people shooting guns out of moving cars (at targets with terrain behind). Maybe this is just what we need for us to all realize we aren’t so different.
5 Likes
My dude, I live in the south and I’m autistic, so I suck at socializing. I have managed to not slit anyone’s throat, not do meth, not get impaled, keep all my digits intact, and in fact never be arrested. This does not have anything to do with being unsocialized.
11 Likes
I hear you.
At the same time I personally was an antisocial southerner who became very social after immersing myself in festivals. Many of my friends had similar experiences.
I certainly respect your thoughts and perspective here though. My thoughts were by no means applicable to everybody’s experience individually.
That sounds like a dang ole boot’n scoot hootenanny hoe down of a good time, yall come back now, ya hear?
3 Likes
Detroit has held* Summer ethnic/music festivals downtown, right on the river every weekend for decades. Whenever the country music fest happens, there are soooo many arrests. People get too drunk and/or take too much of some other drug/s, start fights, get themselves/each other hurt, crash their trucks, etc etc ad nauseam.
The electronic music fest takes up a 4-day long weekend. I think it used to be held during Memorial Day weekend. Even back when it was still free and fully packed, there were never any fights, no one got hurt, and even drugs arrests are vanishingly rare. There were ± 3 arrests over a six+ year period. All the shops w/in a two mile radius sell out of water, healthy snacks, and candy bars.
None of the other festivals ever caused nearly as much trouble as the yee-haw weekend. Mom let a BF talk her into going once, and she was horrified. Never again, she swore. She LOL’d @ him when he tried getting her to go the next year.
She & I went almost every weekend when I was little (70s), sometimes w/a friend of hers or three, and we invariably enjoyed ourselves. We got to hear the music of many lands, and try their food. Delicious.
I went to the electronic thing with a friend one day during the 90s, and it was great. All these local/-ish weird kids, and ones from Europe and S America, in weird clothes, smiling at everyone/everything, laughing and dancing their asses off.
The ecstasy crowd sure beats a buncha drunken drunks.
*Dunno whether we’re having any this Summer.
11 Likes
You must have attended festivals that were far more civilized than this nightmare.
1 Like
6 Likes
Well, that Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic I went to many years ago was pretty tame, compared to this. It was a kinder, gentler time, I suppose… from what I remember of it…
Of course, Willie is kind of a hippie, too, so the clientele wouldn’t be the same.
5 Likes
I just want to share this tidbit with people who might not want to clickthrough to the artice:
The sheriff’s office took preventative measures, like setting up traffic checkpoints. It didn’t take long to make the first arrest.
“The first vehicle that came through, we found meth, marijuana, and an open alcohol container,” Doyle said. “And then one of the occupants had two active warrants … “We were like ‘well, this doesn’t bode well for the weekend.’”
I love how understated Kentuckians can be.
15 Likes
Plenty of copaganda on here recently. Another option is the cops just stay away unless actually needed. This is a pattern of them thinking they need to be around to “manage“ every goddamn thing. Don’t show up and you won’t find drugs.
1 Like
Wow, noted!
Have been planning on a road trip to Detroit to see friends, maybe I can time it with one of the more interesting music festivals. Thanks for the heads up.
4 Likes
Not at all! Hope they’ll be happening, and that you make it here for a great one 
3 Likes
Looks like Motor City Pride is the only downtown fest this summer.
I just learned that it would be best to be nowhere near Commerica on July 10 (Def Leppard and Motley Crue ::shudder::).
8 Likes
There’s plenty of other stuff going on all over the Metro (and beyond) all summer long!
Come for the ruin porn and be disappointed that there isn’t nearly as much as you were lead to believe, then leave satisfied because you just visited a rising, vibrant city!
10 Likes
