After a boisterous weekend, a dark cloud has befallen Electric Daisy Carnival following widespread reports of hospitalized attendees, perilous incidents of fence jumping, and the drug-related death of a 15-year-old girl. While local hospital staffers call for the end of “raves” in public venues and the CBS Evening News picks up the story, here are five ways we thing EDC can improve for the safety and enjoyment of everyone.
1. Assigned Seating
photo by Caesar Sebastian
Not necessarily exact seating assignments, but main floor wristbands sold first-come-first-served or handed out to early arrivals would control how many folks can safely be on the main field without the one-in/one-out system that encouraged fans to jump the fence when asked to wait, while keeping those on the floor trapped for fear of never getting back down if they left.
2. More Secure Fencing
photo by Caesar Sebastian
One would think the existing system—an eight-foot fence, followed by several rows of empty seating, followed by another eight-foot fence—would be enough to keep people from trying to scale the fence onto the main floor. You would be wrong. In addition to the aforementioned assigning of seats, an added foot or two of inward-angled fencing should be added so that not even Spider-Man could scale over it.
3. Porta-Pottys On The Main Field
photo by Raymond L. Roker
The big carnival rides look cool, but what’s not cool is the people relieving themselves on the wall rather than heading to the facilities and risk not getting back onto the main floor. Lose the whirl-around ride and install guys and girls johns in that space.
4. Make the Event 18+
photos by Raymond L. Roker (l) and Pamela Lin (r)
This is a contentious one. Some insists that putting an age restriction on the event would make for an older and more responsible crowd. It would also surely make for a smaller crowd. The real rub is that no one would consider making a football game 18+, or a Phish concert. EDC is a daytime public event in a secure and bonded facility. Is there a right to place age restrictions based on perceived perils of youth?
5. More Professional Security
photo by Caesar Sebastian
Perhaps hiring Marines from Twentynine Palms “authorized to use full force” isn’t really the best staffing solution. We witnessed one yellow shirt remove his uniform in order to go physically assault a kid in the crowd. A more buttoned-down security team might have a better effect at quelling the combative relationship between fans and enforcement.
5. Harm Reduction, Harm Reduction, Harm Reduction
Groups like Dancesafe have been trying to mitigate the harmful effects of drugs at electronic music events for over a decade, by educating users about what they are doing to their bodies and minds. Sometimes the organization will even set up stations to “test” people’s drugs for purity. People are going to take drugs no matter what. Maybe they’ll be safer about it (unless they “accidentally” drink from a friend’s bottle).
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