WATCH ABOVE: 40,000 people partied in Burl’s Creek for the Boots and Hearts music festival over the weekend, but some say the festival should never have happened. Marianne Dimain reports.
TORONTO — The Boots and Hearts Music Festival drew 40,000 people to Burl’s Creek Event Grounds in Oro-Medonte, Ont. over the weekend, for three days of music, fun and camping.
By Monday morning, a steady stream of cars rolled along Line 7 outside of the festival grounds as tired revellers packed up and headed home.
“It was a great time, the atmosphere was awesome,” said Austin as he waited for his ride back home to North Bay.
“Best week of my life it was so much fun,” echoed his friend Amanda.
READ MORE: WayHome music festival to draw thousands despite disapproval of residents
According to the Township of Oro-Medonte, it’s too early to say whether the festival was a success.
Crews spent the day dismantling the main stage and cleaning up fields filled with trash left behind from the festival.
“Our senior staff will be meeting with Boots and Hearts management and Burl’s Creek and reporting back in due course to our staff and assessing what went wrong, what went right,” said Oro-Medonte Deputy Mayor Ralph Hough.
The Township says it hasn’t received many complaints about the festival but there was one harrowing moment on Sunday when a man managed to climb onto the roof of the main stage.
He was first spotted climbing up the side of the stage before making his way to the centre where he could be seen dangling his legs. He was eventually apprehended by police.
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“Some people were looking away but a lot of people were screaming don’t jump,” said one witness.
“He started taking all of his clothes off and that’s when people realized he was serious,” said another.
How the man got up there in the first place isn’t clear.
Festival organizers declined comment as the incident is still under investigation.
Luckily in that case, no one was injured but it highlights the concerns over safety, noise and traffic many area felt by residents opposed to the Boots and Hearts Festival as well as last month’s WayHome music festival.
“The worst thing was the honking of the horns,” said Bruce Wiggins of SaveOro.com.
“The promoter has no concern for the residents because the spotlights were shining right in our house windows.”
Another issue is that Burl’s Creek is zoned agricultural, but It’s now been left littered with trash while Township officials try to determine whether festival organizers violated any bylaws like noise volumes in addition to the issue of zoning.
“We still have before council a temporary use bylaw to allow camping and parking on agricultural zone land,” said Deputy Mayor Hough.
“They may well be charged for violating our zone bylaws for both concerts.”
Members of SaveOro.com say they hope to stop any plans to bring the Boots and Hearts and Way Home festivals back to Oro-Medonte next year.
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