Fewer crimes reported at Sasquatch music festival
More than 25,000 people packed The Gorge Amphitheatre over the weekend for the Sasquatch Music Festival.
GEORGE - Law enforcement officials reported a 39 percent drop in criminal complaints at this year's Sasquatch Music Festival, while health officials say it was a typical year for emergency room intakes of festival-goers.
The Grant County Sheriff's Office reported 48 criminal complaints that resulted in 18 arrests. Last year sheriff's deputies received 79 complaints, but the number of arrests was not immediately available.
"There are a small percentage of people causing the problems. Most of the people there just wanted to have a good time," GCSO spokesman Kyle Foreman said.
Michelle Wurl, of the Quincy Valley Medical Center, said the hospital had a similar number of emergency room visits as previous year's Sasquatch. She said the hospital saw 57 people in the E.R. over the weekend who were in town because of the festival.
"It was a pretty typical Sasquatch weekend," Wurl said. She said that 56 percent of the hospital's emergency rooms intakes were from The Gorge, as compared to 50 percent, last year.
She said she does not know how many of those had insurance. "It will be weeks before we have those numbers," she said. She said that most patients were taken to the emergency room because of "over indulgence of alcohol or drugs."
Live Nation, the group that owns The Gorge Amphitheater, added hydration stations and medical personnel after a patron died last year at an electronic music festival from dehydration and a possible drug-overdose.
Many patrons, like Michael Bell of Kirkland, utilized the free water over the weekend.
"This is great," he said as he filled his water container. He added that the lines for water were much shorter than in previous years.
"The 13th edition of The Sasquatch! Music Festival was a smashing success, selling out our festival capacity of 27,500 tickets in advance and attended by music fans from all 50 states, every province in Canada, and countless countries from around the world," stated Jeff Trisler, President Live Nation Northwest.