East Coast Festivals Cope With Major Issues Following Hurricane Ida – [Read]

Bonnaroo cancels yet another year due to the inclement weather brought on by hurricane Ida, while Elements Music & Arts festival proceeded to have their event causing major backlash.

Recent hurricane Ida tore through the south and up the eastern coast of the US leaving rain, mud, and destruction in its path. Some events like Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN opted to cancel the festival as they deemed the campgrounds unsafe while some like Elements Music & Arts Festival decided the show must go on at any cost. That decision faced major backlash with excessive lines, unfit camping grounds, and unusable facilities.

After waiting almost 2 years to return to the farm, Bonnaroo sadly decided it would be best to cancel the event once again due to the inclement weather. At first, Bonnaroo offered refunds for a period of time before the festival to reduce camping capacity.

Teams were working through the mountains of mud just to get the famous arch up and running, but inevitably had to call it when the reality of hurricane Ida was more than the ‘Roo crew was prepared for. In an official statement below, Bonnaroo organizers also shared photos of the waterlogged campgrounds and heaps of mud surrounding the festival.

we wouldn’t have even had a chance. We are eternally grateful for your blood, sweat and tears to get us to this point, for your incredible efforts in a challenging load out and for helping to prepare us for one hell of a comeback in 2022.

— Bonnaroo (@Bonnaroo) September 1, 2021

Taking a different approach was Elements Music & Arts festival in Lakewood, PA who decided to move forward with hosting the festival in the less-than-ideal weather. The result was 16+ hour wait times to get to the campgrounds, cars stuck in the mud, unclean restroom facilities, last minute parking changes, and most of all lack of organization.

An uproar of attendees took to Twitter to share some of their horror stories.

Elements Festival — I stepped away for a few days after the insanity of last week, but coming back to some absolute horror stories this weekend including 16 hour waits to access camping that was full, cars completely stuck in mud from Ida's rains + much more.

See comments below. pic.twitter.com/jokD3MmTOk

— Festive Owl (@TheFestiveOwl) September 5, 2021

Elements violated ADA accommodations & I met a couple beautiful people who were disabled & struggled extremely hard to get into the festival. Some people who were camping w/ ADA WENT HOME because shit was so inaccessible. I am disgusted. The festival scene needs to do better.

— hot sauce hoe (@yungtabasco) September 5, 2021

There’s a minor Fyre situation happening at the Elements music festival in PA this weekend. Between poor logistics + damage from Ida + oversold tickets + covid issues…things are not going well.

— Alex Mizrahi (@alexmiz) September 4, 2021

I’m not sure what’s true and what’s false regarding how elements is being ran but holy fucking shit I have never attended nor worked a festival that gave me so much anxiety. The owners should be ashamed of themselves. Everyone working their asses off this weekend deserve a raise

— nor. (@grooovynor) September 5, 2021

Elements has released an official statement in stating, “We recognize that some of you endured extraordinary weight times and discomfort getting into the festival on Friday. We apologize for the logistical issues and the disappointment they caused. There was a significant damage to our parking lot from hurricane Ida which led to major delays into the festival… everyone on our independent element team pours our heart and soul into our events and no one is more disappointed in what happened on Friday more than we are. We are a community first, and like any other community or family, when issues arise, it’s important to listen and learn so we can then grow together.” Full statement below.

A statement from our team. pic.twitter.com/cBpuAQs88F

— Elements Music & Arts Festival (@elementsfest_) September 8, 2021

Well, it seems as if there is lots to learn as the community seems to only have negative things to say about their experience. It’s clear to see that the outrageous planning and logistical problems was exactly what Bonnaroo proactively decided to avoid. It will be interesting to see if Elements Festival will make a return with Bonnaroo in 2022.

Jaci Soukhathivong

An Atlanta gal chasing her love for electronic dance music. I’ve been with Exron since 2018 and have the privilege of contributing to the culture alongside other badass women whom I now call my friends. My introduction to the scene was first influenced by trap music, but my discography has since expanded to touch a bit of everything. Some of my favorite artists are Zeds Dead, Cloonee, Nghtmre, Flume, Infekt, Sosa, Bleu Clair, Subtronics, but the list goes on forever.

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