Blue Ridge Rock Festival safety concerns addressed by County Administrator

Some Blue Ridge Rock Festival goers are raising concerns over safety issues at the event.
On Monday, ABC 13 reached out to Halifax County Administrator Scott Simpson for an interview to ask him about some of these issues.
Full Story bit.ly/45Mw1RI
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[@ajhurst4056]

There were two water fill stations in the venue, but one was in the VIP area. If you were just general attendance and weren't camping, you only had access to one water fill station. It ran out of water around 2pm on Thursday.

[@britmann585]

12K people was a fraction of who was there. That's just laughable.

[@thediktatortot9645]

This isn't just the festival getting taken over by the weather, the staff were horridly treated resulting in a staff strike. This needs to be delved into further and this event needs to be barred from being held in the future. An absolute shite show, dangerous and horrendously planned. The amount of money I have wasted on this to see absolutely 0 of the bands I was trying to see, plus the fact that we lost our tents and a good portion of our belongings to the storm as it took us well over an hour to get back to our camp site. The owner of this event needs to be stopped from holding more in the future.

[@reconmotorsports]

Weathers not the reason this went down AT ALL. Parking was 7+ miles away from the venue and shuttles were awful. No shelter when the hail hit. God forbid there was a tornado - hundreds would have died.

[@daviddickenson6949]

Where were the water stations in the camping area? We never seen them

[@tylerswartz8671]

That response was worthless but we appreciate your efforts.

[@nightmareapocalypse3471]

The weather was only 1 small issue out of the many from what ive heard. Before the weather hit, there were already issues. Poor management, not enough watwr stations, showers and porta potties were messed up, trash cans were overflowing, no shelter, the shuttle issue itself was a huge disaster. I didnt go but i have friends eho did go and im in tons of festival groups where these horror stories were being shared. Then i heard that alot of staff workers and security just quit, left and went on strike, which is the true main reason why the rest of the weekend was cancled but they're not going to admit to their mistakes so they blamed the cancelation soley on the weather. Workers quit due to poor working conditions, they weren't getting fed, no showers, they were treated like shit.

[@111Moose]

This comment needs to be seen by as many people as possible.

[@sofargoneyouwouldntunderstand]

So you guys just gonna stay focused on this weather

[@Alexandria87]

Right?!? It was WAY more to it than “bad weather” that legit happened on Thursday night and a little bit on Saturday morning.

[@jessicaj7510]

Yep, because weather justifies no refunds for us. Forget that thousands of us feared for our safety knowing this company was completely incompetent to the evacuation and if an emergency happened. Also, why were we evacuated AFTER it started raining??

[@mitchtaylor6498]

It was just as bad for the people that drove to the parking lot and riding the shuttles. They left us on a little road in the woods with Hardley any lights. We would have been safer in the venue. This rock festival was a total joke. Piss poor planning from the get go.

[@Jenda-ld8dj]

Class Action Lawsuit?

[@yakidin63]

They had to cancel because the stage hands went on strike due to unhealthy and unsafe working conditions.

[@Creatine_Shits]

How the weather was handled was horrible but only the tip of the iceberg.

[@davesravens47]

Way too many issues with this festival and it’s infuriating how much keeps getting glossed over. I hope the workers get their due as well as the campers and people who spent thousands on this garbage experience that left many in the hospital and injured including myself.

[@jessicaj7510]

There were 6 shuttle buses to get us to our parking lot 6miles away. I have email proof that they said they had 40+ buses to get people out. 6 buses to shuttle out thousands of people, and shuttles we were required to pay for, that could not be reached in a panicked running crowd through the rain and hail. The emergency vehicles couldn't even get through the crowd to get to people screaming for medics.

[@redclayscholar620]

It wasn't the weather that was the problem. There was no organization to the evacuation and later on when the weather was nice the staff went on strike due to lack of water, showers, poor quality food, and bad management.

[@jessicaj7510]

We paid $800 for tickets to be treated like cattle and left soaking wet in the cold at night while waiting 6hours to get out.

[@bp4996]

Let’s point out an application doesn’t mean approval. And from what I understand there’s serious word on the street that the venue has canceled the contract with BlueRidgeRockFest. I hope they don’t have it anywhere else because I don’t had need to have that festival ever again five years in and this is where you’re at shame on them go home.

[@paintnamer6403]

No one can do any thing about the weather, look at Burning Man and Wacken Fest in Germany. People can choose how to behave and help each other. The BRRF goes beyond the weather, bands trying to get their sets on stage well before the storm had lack of resources that are supposed be provided. The logistics were crap.

[@photobearcmh]

Their going to have a rough time next year getting acts to sign. I wouldn't want my band to be associated with that garbage.

[@class5bodyworks]

I predict another round of shit show next year. According to this report, the county is willing to process the paperwork for the same permits next year. I wonder how much the county stands to gain from hosting these. Take the cash with no oversight. Slye needs banned from promoting festivals. And the fans and especially the performers need to boycott this festival. Money (or lack of) talks.