Editor’s Note: The video above shows coverage from the day the Texas Eclipse Festival was canceled.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Organizers of the Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet County drew criticism and praise from attendees during the event, and after its cancellation a day early Monday due to severe weather.
“TEXAS ECLIPSE WAS HELL ON EARTH. DISCO DONNIE YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF,” said Reddit user “Final_Meat” in a post on the subreddit r/TexasEclipse.
That subreddit, made to discuss the Texas Eclipse Festival, had around 3,600 members at the time of reporting.
Other complaints touched on perceived shortcomings of the event’s map, a lack of medical staff, poor lighting, rough camping conditions, a lack of bottled water, high food prices, unclean portable toilets, large crowds, long walks and dust. Some of the issues, such as poor cell signal and long vehicle lines, may have been caused by concentrating thousands of people into a rural area.
In a Wednesday statement, festival organizers Disco Presents told KXAN that free water was available at 10 stations around the venue, but said it was “saddened to hear that some guests may have encountered challenges in locating water” or clean portable toilets. It also responded to complaints about camping sites and the venue layout.
“We implemented adjustments to the site layout and infrastructure with the guidance of industry experts, addressing the unique challenges of using this location as a first-time festival site,” said organizers. “The varying elevation and surface types prompted necessary real-time adaptations to our camping plans and logistics.”
Rumors also claim that there were multiple deaths, which organizers and Burnet County Sheriff’s Office Captain Mike Sorenson said were untrue.
“We have had no reports of EMS transporting or being called for other deceased persons,” Sorenson said. “We only have one case. No idea where the rumors started from.”
“One person passed away at the hospital after being transported from the festival. We will not provide further details out of respect for their family’s privacy as well as following HIPAA guidelines,” organizers said. “We are deeply saddened by this loss, and our thoughts are with the loved ones of the deceased during this tragic time.”
Others hit back at complaints, rumors
“The amount of rumor peddling is insane,” said user “UrBobbyIsAWonderland.” “There was apparently 80k people on site, 15 deaths, and feds in a helicopter. Everyone ‘heard this from a guy who heard it from a bartender one night.'”
Other users on the same forum also took umbrage with those complaining about the event. One common remark was that the complaints were misdirected or ill-informed about festivals. Some called the posters making complaints “crybabies” and “internet trolls,” and accused those posters of not even attending the event.
“Everyone complaining has clearly never been to a primitive event on the scale of Burning Man or Oregon eclipse and, frankly, the expectations seem a little entitled,” said user “maddmax19” in a Saturday post. “Seriously, don’t believe the hype online. There are tens of thous ands of beautiful people here that are too busy soaking up this most unique and amazing experience to be b—-ing online.”
Another user, “tdreese,” made a post titled “Way too many doomers/unprepared individuals.”
“People showing up with no food, no water, out of shape and unprepared to walk at a music festival,” said user “harshcougar” in a reply to that post. “But claiming there was no infrastructure, no water, totally disorganized? That s—- on the hard work of a lot of people.”
How many attendees, actually?
Final_Meat said in their post that “we overheard from staff talking about how there were 70K attendees versus 40K for the capacity,” accusing the organizers of illegally allowing more people in than were permitted. Another user, “HarrysOtherNip,” claimed they worked at the event’s will call and that “the exact number of tickets sold was 39,892 not including staff/vendors/artists.”
“We actually have no specific headcount. We were being told that’s the amount of tickets they sold, but again we can’t confirm this,” Sorenson said.
Sorenson noted that while the Sheriff’s Office did not have an exact count of attendees, the official estimate was around 33,000 people. He said that it is possible there were “many more than that.”
“I’m sure we will look at some changes in the future and the projected size of events will make a difference,” Sorenson said.
The organizers said on Wednesday that that festival was not oversold or over capacity, and “well under” the permitted 40,000.
Ordered to close?
The event ended two days earlier than planned due to forecasted severe weather on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, according to an announcement by festival organizers.
“We appreciate every single person who responded to our request and left the site following our weather announcement and cancellation. Your assistance in a calm and orderly departure demonstrated true respect for your lives and the lives of others, as well as the emergency responders in the County and state,” read a Wednesday statement from festival organizers. “By 9 p.m. on Tuesday 4/9, 99% of our guests departed the site safely and avoided all risk created by the storm. Our primary goal was to avoid a weather-triggered disaster and we accomplished it.”
Online posts carried threads of rumor and conspiracy, claiming that authorities such as the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office ordered the event to close. Sorenson refuted such claims in an email to KXAN.
“There were several meetings with event staff, the promoter, meteorologists, the county sheriff, the county judge, the emergency operations coordinator as well as many other officials collaboratively, discussing the upcoming weather events all were concerned about,” Sorenson said. “The promoter and festival staff ultimately made the decision to cancel for the safety of the festival participants.”
He added the rumors may have been started by event staff “to avoid confrontation with people not wanting to leave.”
While the festival’s events were canceled, the Monday announcement said access to camping areas was still allowed. Campground showers and food vendors also remained open.
Information about the refunds will be sent to attendee’s email addresses, organizers promise.
“We are working diligently with our ticket provider to provide more information. We are committed to resolving this quickly and will update everyone very soon,” the statement reads.
Organizers also responded to claims that they canceled for insurance money, and said that the “festival will take a significant financial loss.”
Storms and hail strike
While severe weather held off during the eclipse, severe storms did hit the area, bombarding the site with hail on Tuesday, which would have been the event’s final full day. Photos received by KXAN from viewers in the county show softball-sized hail.
“As it turned out, [canceling] was the correct decision as the area was hit with extremely large hail, which would have been devastating to the people staying in tents,” Sorenson said.
“The forecasted weather would have created extremely dangerous and catastrophic results for our guests and staff, many of whom were camping in fabric tents and some without cars. We had to make a decision early enough to allow for all guests to leave safely before the forecasted weather made that impossible,” the organizers’ Wednesday statement read. “If the forecasted weather had occurred with a full audience present, we would have faced a potential disaster instead of a safe and orderly exit from the venue.”
Pictures below show examples of hail and the damage caused by hail that fell on Burnet County Tuesday:
Some of the subreddit users praised the organizers for canceling the event ahead of Tuesday’s severe weather.
“I’m still on the festival grounds right now (9am Tuesday, I’m staff) and it’s raining SUPER HARD,” said user “koala_parlor.” “Crazy to think that if we didn’t cancel early, 30k people would be packing up in a rain storm and trying to exodus.”
One attendee, Reddit user “Confused-Sunshine” posted photos of them holding a large piece of hail and of a car with heavy hail damage.
“This weekend taught me a lot about cosmic inevitability, acceptance and letting go of control,” said user earlgreyalmondmilk. “There were for sure major challenges but Sunday was one of the best nights of my life and the clouds parting for a perfect view of totality was ethereal.”