I am writing because I have no idea who else to write (complain) to. I traveled from Roanoke, Virginia with my wife to Richmond County to attend the Epicenter Festival.
I would like to first say that every person that I met while attending the music festival were most hospitable and gracious. The towns amazing. I am really unsure what has changed since I came down there in 2012 for the Carolina Rebellion. The traffic situation was a joke and the fact that “Danny Wimmer Presents” was able to get a music festival OK’d with the fire department, police, and zoning is concerning.
I am a registered nurse by profession and seeing the traffic and inability of emergency vehicles to get anywhere in the parking lot if needed was outrageous. I moved less than a foot in two hours while trying to exit after getting a mass text from the Epicenter App. I walked up to the entrance of the parking and found one employee attempting to direct traffic. I use this term loosely, as he was doing a horrendous job of it. Where were the people who were hired to perform these tasks? As I made my way to the state troopers directing traffic on US 1, I encountered people who were passed out at the wheel while waiting to exit.
I have attended many concerts and other large venue activities and this by far was the worst and most dangerous example of “what not to do …” To wrap this up, I would like to reiterate that from the state troopers and Sheriff’s deputies to all the locals who put up with the large influx of people to their towns, everyone was great. I would love to come back down there for a getaway, but I am afraid that it will not be for the next Epicenter Festival.
Michael Lewis
Roanoke, Virginia