The Monday morning after the Pemberton Music Festival must have been a little like waking up from a hangover for the residents of Spud Valley.
Lack of sleep, ears ringing, slightly disheveled, and garbage – lots of garbage.
Social media was set ablaze that Monday morning with pictures of the garbage left behind, and something similar will probably happen after the Squamish Valley Music Festival.
People create garbage; it’s just a fact of any festival or party. Clean-up costs make up a portion of every ticket sold. It shouldn’t allow people to behave like pigs at the trough, but it’s something that festival organizers have dealt with since day one of this event.
The reaction online in Squamish was interesting, as many were freaking out over what could happen when SVMF comes to town. It makes me wonder where these folks have been the past five years. This isn’t festival organizers BrandLive’s first kick at the can – they know what they’re doing.
Each waste station at SVMF has a “Green Team” volunteer who ensures all trash goes into the right can, and every company on site has a sustainability guideline that it must follow. SVMF has worked with the District of Squamish and local environmental groups for years on all these issues.
Last year saw a number of local sports groups help out with clean-up, and they received funds raised from the recyclables gathered.
The point is that they’re doing everything they can to ensure everything is dealt with and to avoid what happened in Pemberton.
But I’m sure we will see Facebook pictures if there’s a mess on site. My response would be to let the cleanup crews do their job or maybe put down the cell phone and offer to help if you’re that concerned.
Squamish residents worried about some temporary trash would be wise to look at our own neighbourhoods before we begin casting stones at SVMF. Just take a stroll through some of the abandoned lots in downtown Squamish or even the area near Howe Sound Secondary School. This spring, like we do every year, employees of The Squamish Chief picked up trash in that area during Pitch In Week. After 20 minutes, many bags were filled.
Instead of complaining and worrying on social media, why not be proactive and use SVMF to showcase Squamish?
By the way, there seemed to be a lot less reaction to the picture of what Pemberton looked like later on that Monday. Weird.
And above all else, if Squamish can survive Eminem like we did last year, this year should be a piece of cake.
