When I left Wyrd Fest I felt invigorated. There were no visible problems. The night went off without a hitch. My signs indicating “no smoking, drinking, etc” seemed to actually work. The patrons got it. They seemed to understand that an event like this doesn’t happen by magic. Wyrd Fest was not their house party where they can do whatever they want; Wyrd Fest came with hundreds of hours of preparation and several thousands of dollars investment. That was, until I received this e-mail from the venue manager, detailing the actions of a few:
- I understand that you were not serving alcohol at your event. Apparently some people did not understand that and both the mens’ and ladies’ washrooms had empty bottles strewn about. In fact, someone stuffed two beer cans into the tank of one of the toilets, which caused the water to run for an extended period of time. It was found by Bill who thought that there was a problem with the toilet since the water was running excessively.
- Someone was also smoking in the ladies’ washroom as there is a considerable amount of ash in one of the sinks and the butts are likely the cause of a backlog in the same sink.
- There are several stains on the carpet from some form of drinks being spilled. These will have to be cleaned.
- There were cigarette butts and beverage containers strewn everywhere on the front property. This is extremely unsightly and as I am sure you can appreciate, not appealing to our members or to other users of the building.
Unfortunately, I will have to assess Wyrd Fest a $100 damage fee (+ GST) to remedy the spills on the carpet and for additional clean up costs. I would appreciate if you could forward a cheque at your earliest convenience. I would be happy to discuss this with you further and if you wish, I would be happy to show you the stains on the carpet.
Yes, a total bummer. A serious bummer. Not only have the misguided actions of a few individuals caused the festival’s reputation to be tarnished, but our ability to book this one-of-a-kind, two-stage, large venue perfect for Wyrd, is gone. And myself, as someone whose total losses now exceed “hundreds of dollars,” as someone who spent a hundred hours planning, promoting, writing, preparing, running, facilitating, managing, and cleaning up the event, as someone who sees the value that this type of event provides Edmonton and musicians across Canada, well, I really question doing something like this again. (Ask yourself if you would do the same? Invest hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, for people to walk around and trash the space you’ve provided them.)
In my head I have many dreams. With grants from the government and more support from local businesses and volunteers, there’s no reason why Wyrd cannot expand to a mutli-day festival with a cheaper ticket price. There’s no reason why I can’t fly in musicians from Halifax (York Redoubt? Omon Ra?), Vancouver (Cosmetics? Makeout Videotape?), Toronto (Actual Water? White Wires?), or Montreal (Pink Noise? Red Mass? Braids? Chris d’Eon). There’s no reason why Wyrd can’t be the cheapest, funnerest, most interesting musical event in Canada.
Actually, that’s a lie. There is one way Wyrd will never be the event we all want it to be. And that’s if people don’t obey simple rules and practice basic principles of respect. Look, I don’t like these rules, either. But until I or Wyrd has enough capital to purchase a warehouse and lobby the government to grant Wyrd the rights to use such a crazy warehouse to host a festival, well, we have to use what’s available.
I’m not looking to punish the people who snuck in booze, stained the carpets, smoked in the washroom (while drinking) and stuffed all their waste in the toilet basin. But I’d like it if they were aware of the impact of their actions. If you knew that cigarette would put Wyrd in jeopardy, would you still smoke it? If not, then I hope in the future you take that cigarette outside or you put that wine bottle in a waste-basket. And if you think it’s worth jeopardizing Wyrd, well, then clearly I’m in the wrong community, and it’s not really worth my time or energies trying to benefit you or allow you to take something away from 200 people who had a great time without destroying their immediate environment.
So, with that in mind, I ask that you forward this link to anyone you know that attended the festival. Not in the hopes that everyone will get bummed, but in the hopes that we hold our friends accountable and the few responsible for these actions understand their impact. I’m not a corporation and this is not a business. I’ve never made money off this stuff and it’s never been my intention. I’m just a really enthusiastic person with a big heart and a lot of organizational skills. Please don’t take advantage of me. My energies will not last forever.
PS – Yes, I will take anonymous donations. My PayPal id is: vilevin [at] gmail [dot] com
PPS – I would like to thank everyone who drank at Steel Wheels and other legitimate areas outside of the venue. I saw many, many, many patrons leave to partake in this activity and I thank them for their cooperation.
Hopelessly yours,
Aaron Levin
Weird Canada / Cantor Records
www.weirdcanada.com / www.cantorrecords.com
[Actual posters posted around Wyrd fest.]
