While nothing has been officially confirmed yet, it seems unlikely that the popular Hard Summer Festival will be making a return appearance at Los Angeles next year.
After having to change venues after renovations were made to the L.A. State Historic Park, the Hard Summer Festival may now have to relocate to completely new city. Outside sources familiar with the festival have given their indications that there may not be a new Hard festival lined up in Los Angeles at all in 2015. Several arrests, mostly drug-related, and an attendee’s death may be the primary reasons for why the festival may need to once again uproot and find a new location. Of the roughly 77,000 attendees, there were about 140 arrests carried out during the course of the festival, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Johnnie K. Jones. According to the statement made by the deputy, several of the arrested individuals were minors:
There were 73 arrests Sunday, including 13 felonies, 12 of those narcotics related. Of those 12, seven were for suspicion of drug sales, and five were for possession.
On Saturday there were 67 arrests, nine of them for alleged felonies. Eight of the nine were narcotics-related. Six of those nine were for alleged sales.
All of the suspects were cited and released.
Most of the drug-related arrests involved ecstasy and all were for Schedule I, federally outlawed narcotics. Many of the more minor arrests were made by state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents who cited minors for having fake IDs.”
Several festivals of this type have had more drug-related incidents and deaths as of late, which may be the root cause of why the Hard festival may need to find a new location. Although it would appear that public outcry over these festivals is rather minimal, there is little else to explain why law enforcement has had to take a harsher stand. Many festivals have received harsh criticism for the very presence of drugs, owing to the notion that festivals such as Hard and EDC may soon face a gigantic backlash that could very well lead to the outright closure of certain festivals.
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