Do You Think Nelson County Should Host The Lockn’ Festival Again? – Poll Results

Obviously the traffic “situation” issues need to be worked out.. but from someone who was there all four days (mind you I did not camp so cannot comment on how that area went).. my observations were that the scene inside the festival went relatively smooth. A few “hiccups” here and there for sure, as I’m sure you would find in any large festival. On the music side of things.. seamless transitions from one act to the other..phenomenal sound system.. tremendous line up of bands.. make for a very enjoyable weekend..
Did the local business’ reap benefits? Good question… should they have.. you bet.. Are there ways for them to “share” in the $’s next year? Absolutely..

Yes, it was great event and did benefit Nelson County. All the hotels, bed and breakfasts, et cetera were full. Timing could be better…perhaps hold it over Labor Day Weekend. Probably get more folks to come and schools would not need to be closed.

Yes as long as the roads stay open for residents.

Things needing to be considered:
1. Closing school for two days but not canceling a home football game, really? You didn’t want any school traffic in the area during the day but let’s have all the teenagers drive to a football game on a Friday night.
2. School was closed on Thursday and Friday but not on Monday when all the traffic was scheduled to leave the area. What’s the difference? I texted my son who was riding with a friend to school on Monday and they were stuck in traffic. I sure hope no student was marked tardy!
3. Let’s show kids what’s more important, a music festival or attending school.
4. How did this festival really benefit Nelson? It seems from everything I was reading throughout the event that no business in Nelson benefited. Can you blame the people for not wanting to come back after the nightmare they had trying to get in the place on Thursday?
5. What about all the people who live in the area surrounding Oak Ridge who couldn’t even leave home for the day while the traffic nightmare was going on?

I am not against having functions in the area but I think common sense needs to be used and all areas need to be evaluated when planning these things. I really do hope that the School Board and Board of Supervisors evaluate all of the community’s concerns before another festival is scheduled.

As a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, a resident of Tye River, and co-chair (with Ginger Larkin Hash) of Trinity’s Lockn’ committee, I look forward to Lockn’ 2014! Our little church, with the willing, mostly-optimistic band of friends, church members, and allied volunteers camped out in the cemetery. Trinity hosted SoberLockn’ meetings; co-sponsored with James River Float Co. daily river swim trips at my farm; shared our new labyrinth with visitors, and opened our doors to everyone for services. People from all over the US (incl. HI) visited our hallowed ground, expressed gratitude, and shared some Nelson County hospitality.

I hope they give it another try. There are definitely some changes and fixes that need to be implemented, and I would like to see the community more involved, but the music and sound system were as good as any festival in the country.

I wasn’t affected. I am much more affected by the Tractor Pulls across the street from me, which are loud, not to my taste, and happening with more & more frequency. I think if a donation to nelson County were included (even a $2.00 surcharge per ticket), I would support this one time a year event. I know some local businesses were able to get gigs providing services within the festival. I think a huge effort should be made to employ local.

I stayed away because of the hyperbolic reporting about traffic in the weeks before the festival and on Thursday, the first day. Come to find out that traffic was only bad getting in on Thursday and that I missed a smoothly run and very fun festival! So I certainly hope it happens again next year. I want to go!

The very LOUD music until after 1:00AM was absurd! I have been to quite a few concerts over the years and none of the outdoor venue shows went beyond 11:00PM. It was completely rude and inconsiderate towards the local community. If we HAVE to endure this festival again, I think the show should end by 10:00PM or 11:00PM at the LATEST!!

I see nothing wrong by having them as long as Nelson County businesses, etc…benefit ($$$$$) from it, schools are not affected and the kinks worked out. BUT, bring in a country music festival to our beautiful county and Blue Ridge Mountains !!!!

Honestly, I wonder if the biggest problem with Lockn’ is the difference between the expectations of it versus the reality. Not every local business owner is going to benefit from the festival, but many did. I have been to a few music festivals of this nature, and I think that Lockn’ went above and beyond to include local businesses in the event. There was a huge tent full of local food vendors in a central location on the concert grounds, as well as booths run by local non-profits. I have never seen anything like this (so many local businesses) at a festival like this before. I went to Lockn’ on Saturday, and aside from the ridiculous coning off of turn lanes across 29, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that a massive music festival was happening right off the road. Aside from the traffic going in and out on the opening and closing days of the festival (which, yes, was horrendous but can be improved and was a temporary problem for local residents), I don’t understand what the downside is to having an event like this in Nelson County.

Festivals are fun, and this one seemed quite enjoyable and smooth once people got in. I think the real question though is — when did the public have an opportunity to talk about it and express any concerns PRIOR to the event? The school closing happened really, really quickly…so much so that they didn’t have time to cancel the game. Did the School Board just roll over when asked? If the County just starts granting administrative permits without community input, where does that leave our public process? Again, this is not about how great or fun or neat or nice the festival was — yee haw in that regard! But what if next time the administration signs off on something we DON’T like? Seems to be a pretty arbitrary and subjective process, and maybe not the most transparent way to govern.

I got there the last day Sunday at 5:30. When I asked about discount tickets for county residents besides coming so near the end, I was told there was something sent out earlier about discount tickets for county residents. I had heard nothing. I will say that the person in charge made 2-3 calls asking about a discount ticket for county residents, but was told, “NO! I felt this as a real slap in the face to us living here. All music festivals that I’ve been to have discounted tickets for county residents, including The Festy at Devils Backbone. Anyhow, I walked away as I was not going to pay $100 for an evenings entertainment.
PS. As I walked away there was a friend waiving a ticket for me.
PSS. The people in charge got nothing instead of something. Greed!!!!!!!

My husband and I were in “preferred camping” and were able to leave each day to go home for a shower/bathroom break in the mornings and that alone will make this our festival of choice for years to come! We used to do 3 to 4 music festivals a year, but as we got older the long traveling and dreaded “Porto-Johns” were making it less appealing, even though we absolutely love live music!
Having it in our “back yard” was amazing! Yes, there were a couple “hiccups” as to be expected for a first year, but over all is was an amazing experience!

I would love to see the dates move to October so the weather is a bit cooler, tho we had decent weather… 🙂

Kuddos to the “free water fills” and the $2 bottles of water! This really encouraged the kids to keep up on the water intake, which is such a big deal!
At previous music festivals I’ve seen water prices as expensive as beer prices…which only “encourages” poor choices…sooo great job!

The music was fabulous and we had an amazing time! Already looking forward to LockN2014! :). Thanks Nelson County and Oak Ridge!

7 Hour wait to get in?
Whiny Locals?
Traffic patterns a complete mess?
ATM’s ran out?
3 Mile walk to campsite?

If you gonna do this again… go somewhere else… this was a mess…

Well if the “whiny locals” had input to begin with, this probably WOULD have been held somewhere else. My suggestion is closer to the backyard of the person making the most money off of this thing. Helllooo Crozet! 🙂

Anytime an event of this nature is held there will be issues and growing pains. I attended and camped even though I live 10 minutes away. Other than the traffic issue on the first day and some issues with the portajohns and dust theoverall festival was great! Just in our small group over $2500 was spent on tickets, camping, power, supplies, food, drinks, etc. There were how many people there doing the same thing? 1/4 million/ day estimated in revenue. Not forgetting the exponential economic boost to the area. A week of folks coming from all over including right here spending money and having fun seems like a win/win to me. Be proud Nelson! Folks were really impressed for the most part.

Seriously, how heady was it when I came out with Furthur?

I was skeptical, but it actually went pretty smoothly. Everyone should have expected it to take hours to get in the first day. After that 29 was clear. I know a lot of local business owners and those that have hotels, gas stations and convenience stores near the festival did fine. Some of the latter ran out on the first day, which is kind of poor planning. I do think the festival itself could have expanded its local offerings. The Local Tent ran out of beer and food options pretty quickly. I heard they only had 6 cases of Blue Mountain beer for all 4 days! As for giving locals a discount, I don’t think you can compare Festy (I haven’t even heard of 1/2 those bands) to the Lockn festival. Do locals get a discount at Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza?

My guess is that LockN out of town attendees who want to come back will pile on here and skew this poll a good bit. Just sayin’.

I think it should return with some changes especially with road traffic.
It should be allowed to continue because the owners at Oak Ridge should be allowed a stream of income after being denied previous reasonable (at least to me) requests for other venues.
Traffic problems can be fixed. I don’t know if the fellow I was talking to was blowing smoke but he told me he was a big wig and that the organizers have offered to build an overpass which would alleviate most if not all traffic problems. If this is the true the county should seriously consider the offer. Solving traffic issues would remove road blocks and allow schools to remain open.
Solving the traffic problems would solve my business’s problem with the festival. The festival hurt my business because my regular clientele avoided Lovingston during the Festival. I saw a few festival goers during the day but at night Lovingston became a ghost town. I served more people during lunch but the guest check average was lower.
I’d also like to see more local (read Nelson County) vendors and staff.
I did get a chance to drive down Oak Ridg Road the day before the festival began as well as 6 PM on the first day; it was quite a transformation and it was no wonder traffic was an issue. I also got went in for a few hours on the last night to enjoy a few hours of music. I will report that with the exception of one unsavory character that came into my cafe last week (there’s always one isn’t there?) that the people I met who were part of the festival were polite, gentle and kind.

Answer is yes, with the qualification that they do better handling the traffic situation. Also need to work closer with the school system to avoid last minutes closing and avoid problems with the school buses not being able to get out of the schools/turn where they need to. If the festival is going to go through Sunday, they need to end earlier in the day.

“…the organizers have offered to build an overpass which would alleviate most if not all traffic problems.”

I’m sorry, come again? Building an overpass is the solution here? Boy, talk about the tail wagging the dog. As a long-time resident of this county, I think it would be a travesty to see an OVERPASS built to access historic Oak Ridge. I almost choked on my seltzer when I read that suggestion. Otherwise, Mr. Brokamp, you make excellent points. But let’s not forget that the land Oak Ridge is on is RURAL, like much of the rest of the County. If we start slapping up urban elements, your business and others will suffer. People like to come here because of the quiet, rural character of the area. We need to be really careful how much accommodating we do for this one event, which was my point to begin with.

Right now (10:00pm on Monday) the poll is about even. I would guess that much of the ‘yes’ vote are concert goers from all over that want to see it again next year, and that the ‘no’ vote is probably made up mostly by locals that were negatively affected by the event. Note to the local Supervisors: most of these ‘no’ vote folks are probably eligible to vote here in the county. You may want to quickly mend some fences, and announce how you would help avoid those bad issues from cropping up again next time, if indeed you decide that there should be a next time. This could easily end up as a campaign issue that you really don’t want to face.

First off, before y’all go any further about the traffic, you need to realize that the entire parking staff quit right after the gates opened Thursday morning. Whether they were over-whelmed, misinformed or just downright lazy, they all quit and interlocken had to scramble to get workers over there. I waited 6 hours in traffic and as we got towards the front I realized that festival-goers were running the parking! Kudos to the people that got out of their car to help, but if these sorry workers hadn’t quit from the begging it would be a whole different story. That was not fair to the organizers nor the festival attendees, and ultimately affected the town’s traffic much worse than planned.

Locals, if you didn’t come to the festival then I highly suggest you do some research on the positive, local impact Interlocken made before you keep throwing jabs at a festival that happens ONE weekend out of the year. If you had been there, you would have seen the huge and centrally located tent that said “Local” on it. It was full of wonderful local food and local drinks/beer. I had a great BBQ sandwich from a “local” vendor and also had an awesome “local” pumpkin beer. One day they even had a big pig-roasting at the local tent and sent notifications out to people to come enjoy. Talk to those people and see how they enjoyed it!

And if you don’t think the local businesses benefited from this festival you are mighty wrong. Check the convenient stores, gas stations and restaurants and ask them how they fared. I guarantee you almost all of them sold out of almost everything they had and had incredible business this ONE weekend of the year. I’ve been going to bonnaroo for 8 years straight, it’s right in my back door in a town smaller than Arrington and it is amazing what they have done with that little town over the years with the money they gained from building new schools to new roads and of course a whole lot of new businesses!

Lastly and most importnatly, on a local level, I would like y’all to check out the non-profit organization “Conscious Alliance” that was at Interlocken. This group collects canned goods and non-perishable food items in exchange for a free poster made by an artist who donates their work. They collected over 3,000 LBS of food! And guess where all of that donated food went? To the Nelson County Pantry! Not to mention other non-profit organizations like Habitat for Humanity, FeedRVA, Wild Virginia, and many more that were also there making a positive, long-lasting impact on the “local” level. They even had several raffles going for people that donated to these non-profit organizations, encouraging people to make a difference in Nelson County.

The promoters of this festival payed your town big bucks to put on this festival for ONE weekend. From paying for a sound ordinance, to hiring police, to renting equipment, to buying insurance, to covering every permit you can think of and of course paying state taxes for alcohol, food and more that ultimately benefits your town.

This festival was full of humble, loving and happy people that came to your town for 4 days and not only made a strong effort to leaving a positive, long-lasting impact but also to give you something in return for allowing us to come enjoy music in your wonderful town…for ONE weekend 🙂

ps…if you really think it was THAT bad, then just be glad it wasn’t a Metallica, ICP, or Black Sabbath festival, that crowd would have you running for the hills from day one. Can’t ask for better fans than the ones from these musicians.

C-lent, I have also been to Bonnaroo — several times — and it is NOT in a town “smaller than Arrington.” The population of Manchester TN is 10,000, compared to Arrington’s at 700. Please do your homework before you come on here with your thinly veiled efforts to try to rally around keeping LockN here. Quite frankly, I wish this could just be discussed among the locals. We’re not all just dumb anti-festival people that don’t understand how these things work. We are local working family people that were affected by this, and we have a right to discuss its impacts without being made to feel like we don’t “get it.”

How about Nelson County really Benefit from it and Invoke a Gross Receipts tax so that this event has to pony up tax money just like the rest of the County does. It makes no sense to let them invade our county for four days and the county no reap any tax benefit from it at all!!

I question welcoming them back when the restaurants in Lovingston were so misled. They greatly overstocked on supplies thinking they would have lots of extra customers.

They were not informed that the festival was doing everything it could to keep festival goers from leaving the festival grounds.

I was impressed when all the local volunteers walked off the job for parking Thursday and the festival attendees stepped up and took over a lot of the car management.

When it comes to festival attendees, (and I have been to many, from bonnaroo, allgood, rothbury, forecastle etc), nobody has a better crowd than the older members of the jamband/grateful dead scene.

Say what you want about the drugs etc, this crowd knows how to treat a town well, be polite, pick up after themselves and keep there act together (even if they dress ‘weird’)

If this was a country music event, or metal band event, there would be so many fights and trash everywhere the other locals would be happy to get rid of the event in future years.

If they could get the Thursday traffic better controlled, which they definitely can, it would have been superb. Instead, it was just great.

Oh believe me — if you knew our county well, you’d know that no one here in Nelson really cares too much about some smoked-up, tripped-out hippies, LOL. The festival issues are related to land use and the impact of such a large event on this small rural county. Trade-offs need to be made in order for everybody to feel like dealing with those impacts every year. It’s a fairness issue. If there’s plenty of give and take, you won’t have a backlash. But at least for this first year, there seemed to be plenty of take and not much give. I question how much the promoters really care about that, despite what they say…

I am a 20 year Nelson County restaurant owner and I will say I was not misled one tiny bit but it would have been very easy to buy into the hype. I didn’t know what to expect so I based my purchase decisions on among other things Camp Jeep, The Nelson Summer Festival, The Garlic Festival, The Rendezvous, various Civil War Reenactments and Oak Ridge Harness Racing. Oak Ridge has even hosted a Rodeo so excuse the pun this has not been my first. All of these events have helped my business, none better than Camp Jeep and with the numbers being bandied about one would think Lockn’ would provide the same financial shot in the arm. But I ordered conservatively and had a back-up plan if business exceeded expectations; it didn’t. As it stood I will be freezing some ground beef and using it for chili; I will have zero food waste.
I never anticipated for a moment that my business would suffer when the population of the county doubled for a weekend and that even my regular staff would need to be sent home early due to a lack of business each night because even my regular guests feared the traffic reports.
I am grateful I did not get caught up in the hub-bub and excitement of the moment and go out of my way filling up my coolers and freezers. I did have extra staff member on call and I am sorry I had told all my staff that they needed to be available for the weekend; a lot of them would have liked to attend the festival. Live and learn is all I can say.
One of the great things about Camp Jeep was that the set up and tear down crews were in the community for weeks before and after the event spending money. I am told the crews at Lockn’ are catered and lodged on site which keeps more of the $ in the inner circle. This event is not about sharing any of the wealth with the community.

It was an amazing festival. All festivals have traffic issues…not that it couldn’t be better but you aren’t going to have a traffic free environment. The local establishments expecting everyone to leave the festival to come eat or drink were simply foolish or misled. Leaving isn’t the standard model. If you want to benefit from the festival, be a vendor. If not, then do you really want a bunch of people who’ve been in the sun (and fun) all day leaving the secluded farm and strolling in to your establishment? Do the State Police want to have unplanned traffic times on 29? No…you want to get them in on first day and get them out the last. It was an awesome time for the people there. Now “Arrington” and “Nelson County” will be mentioned in the same references as “Manchester”, “Woodstock”, and “Marvin’s Mountain Top”…either enjoy it or don’t, but another Lock’n WILL take place somewhere…and we’ll still go.

This was the first year of the event, and it seems like planning got started fairly late for an event of this size. The organizers could improve a lot of things with more time to plan and this year’s experience behind them.

Campers at a festival stock up on the way in and the way out. You don’t really leave the site during the event, especially if you had to wait an eternity to get parked in the first place. If area businesses were led to believe that 20,000 people would be popping in and out for four days, that is just wrong. Access to the site is limited to ensure that only paying customers can enter and to provide security, not to keep the festival goers from leaving if they choose. But once you are parked and set up, you don’t really want to leave unless it is a necessity.

For all the comments about people cleaning up after themselves, they left a tremendous mess. There were cups and trash left all over the concert area after performances ended for the evening and mounds of trash in the camping areas after the event. That said, there were a lot of overflowing trash cans during the event, so this seems to be an area where the organizer can improve.

Overall, I enjoyed attending a couple days of music. I think this is a good opportunity for the county, especially if the proper taxes and fees are in place. As a day attendee and a local, I ate out twice in Lovingston over the weekend.

Some Nelson residents are all about property rights when it comes to their own enjoyment, but not so much when it comes to others. The owners of Oak Ridge got screwed after they built that race track. I am glad to see them find a way to use the property.

Rural living does not always mean peace and tranquility. Having lived in various areas of the county over 25-plus years, there is always noise. Sometimes it’s tractor pulls at the fire department. Sometimes it’s neighbors on four wheelers. Sometimes it’s hunting dogs barking late into the night. Sometimes it’s shooting for hours on end. Sometimes it’s a neighbor who likes to set off fireworks for every holiday on the calendar. And now, sometimes it’s a music festival.

I hope LockN’ is back in 2014 — that it is as much fun as this year — that campers are allowed in the day before, and that the County has learned not to overreact!! If local businesses want to make money, then they should join together to meet the requirements to vend inside. I for one would love to see more vegie options (way to much meat) and no alcohol sales inside the gates!

Please be sure to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting tonight at 7:00PM to voice your concerns. Arrive early as they only allow public comments in the first few minutes of the meeting.

I didn’t go…was put out of the way many times by the silly closed crossovers (maybe they were needed Thursday morning but not after that), had to juggle child care for my child when they closed schools, spent Saturday and Sunday afternoon working out at Anytime to observe a ghost town of a Food Lion parking lot…so, I can see why people are complaining. BUT, this could be an exciting, landmark event for the county….I just think the bugs need to be worked out and I hope the Nelson County that I know, generally accepting and accommodating, will give the thing another chance.

Did they get perfect weather or what???

The road blocks were ridicules, I came up to Rt 29 on Thursday morning to find I could not turn north (left) onto Rt 29. This should never happen again, we Citizens require access to jobs, shopping, medical, and such without having to drive to Amherst to make a “legal” U-turn! Who decided on this so-called traffic plan? Were the Board of Supervisors aware of this? Was this done by VDOT or the Sheriff, Who?

C-lent said “if you really think it was THAT bad, then just be glad it wasn’t a Metallica, ICP, or Black Sabbath festival, that crowd would have you running for the hills from day one.”

Clearly C-lent doesn’t know Nelson Co, Most of the Men and many of the Ladies would not be running for the hills, a few shots fired into the air as Vice President Biden told us all would send the festival goers to the hills.

Last item was the LOCK’N volunteer method. Many Nelson Co. folks are quick to volunteer if asked yet to put $330.00 down to be an indentured servant without detail descriptions of work to be done, turned me off! It creates an entirely new definition of the word Volunteer.

” If local businesses want to make money, then they should join together to meet the requirements to vend inside”

I applied for a vendor permit on the Lockn’ website almost as soon as the event was announced. I provided them with the information they asked for. I followed it up with a email inquiry. Nothing happened until two or three weeks before the event when I got an email that said
“Most all vendor permits have been issued. If you want to apply please fax A, B, C and D within the next 72 hours.”
Instead of joining together the information should be readily available in the application instead. It shouldn’t be akin to joining a secret society.

Yeah… this nonsense about blaming festival goers for not flooding our restaurants during a 4 day camping music festival with high-profile bands is getting out of hand. They business owners made those decisions to stock up, not the Lockn folks. People should research the crowd that they are aiming for before going all-in on something they don’t know much about.

That said, plenty of places had boosted business sunday night and monday morning. I spoke to two owners myself who were very impressed with the crowds they received on those two days.

I’ll see you all at the meeting, if you decide to show.

Caroline – I apologize for misreading the size of your town. We stopped off in Lynchburg to get food and gas, then we stopped off again in Amherst to stay the night at a friends lake house Wednesday night. Judging through that area they looked similar to Manchester, TN. But if your town is so much smaller than Manchester then its obviously a GOOD thing because that means the money you gain from this festival will benefit you even more! That also means the incredible non-profit organizations that were there working to give back to Nelson County would have even a BIGGER impact on your town. Seems like a good thing to me.

Stopping off in both towns on the way in/out my observations were that the stores/gas stations/restaurants were full of festival goers that were cleaning the place out.

Tom B – I’m sorry you did not profit off of the weekend, that is a huge surprise to me as with most festivals I have been to around the country the local restaurants profit greatly. As for them feeding their workers on site and people not leaving, that is how it almost always is with festivals. Once you’re in, you’re in and you don’t want to go back out unless your forgot or ran out of something. People come there to camp. I hate that you did not get in on the vending because my group made a point to eat from the local vendors. Everyone I talked to in the local tent were extremely humble and nice to us. Ask them how it went! And I hope that if the festival happens again that you will be able to set up a vending spot, we’ll take care of you!

Larry B – you clearly don’t understand how festivals work! They require volunteers to put down the payment as a hold on their account so in the event of the volunteer quitting the job or trying to sneak of out working they can charge them. This prevents people on the WET (Work Exchange Team – look them up) from quitting. And classy comment about shooting guns in the air, that doesn’t make you look like a hick! Maybe if you came to the festival you would have realized that over half of the audience were people from the south and full of people that aren’t afraid to use a gun. But go ahead, get Metallica to come to your town and see how they treat you place. Every festival has trash but I’ve been to festivals of all sorts of genres around the country and the jam/hippie scene is by far the most caring and loving people that will show much more respect to your town than other genres of music.

Lastly, what bothers me the most about the comments from the locals is how much you care about the MONEY you can get from this festival. I commented about all the great non-profit organizations that were there helping your community and not a single one of y’all on here has showed a single bit of appreciation. Seems like a small town community that is focused on working together would give a lick about a festival’s strong efforts to give back. But not y’all though. Y’all just want to see the $$$ coming to you.

Take a gander at this: http://www.newsadvance.com/nelson_county_times/news/article_0fd40872-1570-11e3-95eb-001a4bcf6878.html ..seems pretty awesome to me that someone all the way in Alabama was willing to match the donations made at the festival and help bring more food to your town

“According to the news release, food insecurity in Nelson County touches 11.8 percent of the population.

The pantry provides supplemental food to 250 to 275 households, or approximately 800 individuals, on a monthly basis, said Marian Dixon, the vice president of the pantry.”

“I think it would be a travesty to see an OVERPASS built to access historic Oak Ridge. I almost choked on my seltzer when I read that suggestion”

Why must overpasses be looked at as an urban element? One need only look at Colonial Williamsburg or our own Blue Ridge Parkway for solutions that will work.

I believe the festival was a great success considering it was the first year. The parking should have been better thought out in the beginning. You can’t simply expect one man to be able to handle thousands of festival goers and their vehicles! You need a plan, and a team to be put in to place that can handle the job. For all of the complaining of local business owners feeling personally offended that they didn’t make money, you all should of done you research and known what to expect with this crowd. Most of these people are trying to stay close to camp and the festival, most being frugal because of the high costs of affording the tickets, transportation, necessities, and food just to make the trip happen. There was definitely money made by the town, and plenty of locals that will still find a way to benefit you in some way whether it be in the town or your business. Also, once you figure how to take advantage of the festival model you can use it to your advantage to maximize your profit (If your food is good the word will spread and it will sell). My last point that I believe is most important is the trash. I also saw a lot of trash on the grounds. I personally gave an extra effort to pick up my own trash as well as some others. I feel that there is a need for more trash cans all over the land at oak ridge. For example, while I was at the triangle stage I didn’t see a single trash can in site and had to carry my trash all the way back to my camp site, this helps discourage thinking clean with some lazier folk. This was one of the most beautiful weekends I have seen in quite some time, and I am sure it will happen again. Most everyone were loving, and caring people who were there to share the love with the few people in the world that still know what that word means. bless.

There were way too few trash cans in the venue. It got very trashed, but I saw a lot of people, myself included, wandering around with several cans/bottles looking for a receptacle.

Around our camp site, there were several trash cans that were emptied regularly. We had a very clean area around us and our neighbors the whole time.

Please don’t close the public schools again! There are ways around this, such as having a very early entry (like the evening before) to get the bulk of folks off the road.

I had a wonderful time at the festival. I flew in and went to the local Walmart, which was sold out of the primary camping gear festivarians are looking for. Silly. If a local store had stocked up on the right items they would have done very well! To run out of camp chairs and shade shelters and canned beer is just poor planning. What is that saying? Poor planning on your part does not constitute a problem on my end? I was one of the people who stepped up and tried to help direct traffic after the volunteers quit, it was very frustrating. So, fix the parking situation, the trash issue, help local vendors to understand the reality of the situation better, and there you go. I plan on coming back because it was a wonderful event in a beautiful place.

A lot of readers seem to be getting the wrong impression from my posts.
1. I hope the festival returns.
2. I received a lot of business from the festival and people found my cafe returned day after day.
3. Business lost I attribute to the many regulars who avoided the area during the evening hours when the festival were not out because headliners were playing. This was no surprise.
4. 3>2

I am a county resident and I wish the music had stopped earlier on Sunday. It was annoying to have it going on for 4 days and nights without a break until late Sunday evening. the electronic bass, it was loud and annoying. I think there should be a music curfew on Sunday evening – they should stop by 9pm. I did attend and I didn’t appreciate all the smokers, cigarettes and pot all around. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Perhaps they could have a no smoking area. I also wonder what it cost the county in terms of services and school closings. The sudden closing of school had to create a hardship for parents. If there is any financial benefit in terms of tax dollars into the county I hope the county government does not waste the money but lowers our taxes and fees.

Obviously, the entry into the festival could have been substantially better organized. Hopefully, that will work itself out the following year. As for the lack of a physical schedule – i was not pleased with being forced to pay to charge my cell phone if i wanted to be able to look at the schedule or needed a map to get around. Either print schedules for your paying festival comers or provide a free place for phones to be recharged… this is not too much to ask given the ticket price. Also, there were way too few trash cans throughout the camping areas. It was initially very confusing to order tickets (camping, vip, car, tent only) in addition with specific parking. Not a bad idea to attempt to profit off each specific sale of ticket and parking, but give more clarity in advance as to what we are buying. I felt as if Lockn kept announcing or releasing crucial information not well enough in advance (personal opinion). All in all it was a successful festival after the rough start. Hope it comes back to Nelson County!

Having once been a long time resident of Nelson County, I think it’s the perfect place to hold the event! Perhaps having it on a holiday such as Labor Day weekend or before school starts would be better. That would also give local businesses time to better plan for deliveries and such to benefit their own revenue. Bringing that many people from all over and even out of state does in fact benefit the area. It allows visitors to also enjoy the many aspects the county has to offer..hiking, skiing, dining out at the local breweries, wineries, etc etc. Instead of just banning the festival from Nelson, take the negative side effects and fix them. Why is everyone so quick to only focus on the bad??? Look at the GOOD.

Locally submitted. Non car tent camping.

Very good time. WSP left a crater in front of the stage from their explosion Saturday!

Definitely some errors to correct, but many positives to build on!

-parking security checkpoints should have been pushed out towards the three main roads towards the event(off 29). That way the bottleneck won’t be at the point of ‘event central’. I don’t blame those who abandoned/walked from their car THURS night just to see the show!

+++Late stage, mixed artists, no gap sets, all awesome.

++Mounted horses were an awesome non-cop assistance and presence.

——-Port o johns were downright discraceful (non car camping). I mean it. I walked my wife to appropriate facilities each night. SOMEONE SHOLD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR JOB ON THIS. The distribution and placement of the johns probably contributed to this. Epic fail.

+++No glass was a hassle, but probably worth it in retrospect. and as a local, I appreciate the hoop jumping that this took.

—-I REALLY REALLY had a problem with the physical touching at the search stations. Even after pockets were emptied, they wanted to touch me. I told them to keep their hands to themselves. Straight up BS. Walked in with whatever I wanted despite the increasingly aggressive searches over the course of the weekend. Probably legally assault.

And, speaking of the searches… The biggest deterrent to local business that I saw, was the fact the car had to o back through the search wash station. All riders out. Open p glovebox and center console. Whoops forgot to look in the cooler. Did they just take a rubber mallet for tent stakes?.. And a three inch pocket knife.. From a camper??.. IF getting in and out was streamlined, local traffic couldn’t help but impove. I WAS surprised 5 $ foot longs were not everywhere. Well, we went fri and sat – but others didn’t.

The lack of a paper map and brochure that could have spun some (Barrel House, Cafe, brew/restaurant) for the way out of town was pretty crucial. Need to get that right.. I mean Im telling people how MANY breweries are THAT close and eyes are popping!! Cider an wine and a ski resort too. I think the main point is that people at home right now in Austin, NY, or Colorado should have something in their hand or head PULLING them back to Nelson!! They all love this place. And the more they learned, the more they loved.

More fun than I expected. Waaaaaay more fun. And tons of good people. No isssues with sketch balls at all, save for one or two on the fringes late night.

-Beer should have featured more Nelson breweries. More prominately, I’m sure this comes down to $$$. They were all hidden in a tent in the back. At 8$ a pop, you could hope for some selection. And it was there, but some ____ at st arr hi ll wanted it hidden. Go big $green.

++++Sports tent was a HUGE plus.. Would have loved a little more effort in that regard. I mean partner with best buy or crutch field. find a shop fan. Lawd!!

Incredible acts. Absolutely incredible. The music and the people were absolutely stellar at this event.

C-lint, I hope we can get together at the next lochin. You get it. You bring the thunder and soul that fills the event. I appreciate your thoughts and travels!!

This feedback is great. It seems as though the majority of locals are positive about the festival even with the inconveniences. As a festival goer, I have to say I saw many local businesses inside and had friends who raised over $6000 for the Nelson county food bank at their non profit tent. There will always be people who profit and people who don’t, sometimes you have to figure out ways to seize the opportunity. As for the trash, while it is appalling and people should have brought their own trash bags (I did, left nothing behind at my camp site), there were limited amount of trash cans. They could definitely do a better job of making sure there are enough places to put trash. For the locals, next year you’ll know what to expect. Potential school closings, loud music until late (I read a comment about that earlier and that lady is just going to have to deal- it’s only a few days once a year and the ticket prices warrant the music to go on until the bands are ready to stop- 10 or 11 is way too early) and if course, the traffic. I also agree there should be a locals price for day passes and what not. It was a beautiful festival on a gorgeous piece of land and I heard some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time! I really hope they will do it again. Thank-you to all of you who had to endure festival inconveniences. As the festival promoters get the kinks worked out and the locals get more used as to what to expect, it will get easier and easier every year. At least I hope it does as I am pumped to come back next year!

There seems to be a lot of intentional glazing over of the negative impact of this festival on our county! I concede that the severity of a couple of the concerns I had initially were not realized, primarily due to the vast difference in the large projected participation and the much smaller actual participation in the festival. However, there seems to be another vast difference in what is being reported publicly about the festival and what some of those who worked the event are saying privately. Any environment where alcohol and illegal drugs flow freely and where fights and arrests occur regularly cannot provide a constructive influence on participants or residents. There must have been a considerable amount of “looking the other way” done by those making these public reports! Also, access to businesses and residences along US 29 was still restricted due to the blocked cross-overs and the traffic congestion that did occur, which could not have been a positive experience for many customers, workers, and residents. EVEN SO, MY GREATEST CONCERN IS THE NEGATIVE MESSAGE THAT WAS SENT TO THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH OF OUR COUNTY THROUGH THE CLOSING OF SCHOOLS FOR AN EVENT OF THIS NATURE! By so doing, it was made very clear that money, assumed prestige, and support of the alcohol, illegal drug, and entertainment industries are much more important than the personal growth and constructive development of our children and youth! I know that what I have said here is not “politically correct” nor will be positively regarded by many who enjoyed the environment of the festival. However, I tend to believe the private comments and reports from those whom I trust who saw the festival activities first-hand rather than the public reports made by those who stand to profit the most from this event.

I was there. I saw not one bite. I saw a lot of love.

I tend to believe that developing a child’s social capacity and developing culture within our children to appreciate arts (and entertainment) is an invaluable lesson that we could all strive to reach for.

I saw no children on drugs. I saw no drugs pushed on anyone. I saw no drugs offered for sale inside the event area. I saw no effects on anyone from drugs (save for a few sloshed beers!).

I think this event positively impacts out county. I can’t imagine how school would have remained open (at least Tye and High).

Bobbi, did you make any of the shows 🙂 good time had by all 🙂

*fight

This isn’t about whether the show was awesome and fun and great for kids or whatever. I’ve been to a million of these fests, all around the country — and a few in the UK as well. From a local perspective on LOCKN, what bothers me is that the minute you ask a question or express ANY kind of concern, you get shot down as being “against” the festival. NO!! That is NOT what this is about, so I wish everyone would please quit putting everything in black and white terms. Some of us here are capable of more intelligent, critical and objective thinking. Sheesh.