LEWIS COUNTY, WA (CelebrityAccess) — Commissioners in Lewis County have moved to update local ordinances governing music festivals following a blocked 2014 EDM event that they say skirted the permitting process.
The EDM concert, Epic III, was billed as a wedding event, but County officials estimated that the event's organizers, Unity Productions, invited nearly 19,000 people to attend the event, which was to take place on private property in Lewis County in the summer of 2014.
While the event's organizers claimed that far fewer people were expected to attend the rave, and noted that the County's ordinances defined a music festival as an event with attendance of 500 or more people, that didn't stop County officials from preempting the show with an injunction.
Now, after a public hearing, County Commissioners have updated the ordinances, with changes including a lowering of the definition of a festival from 500 attendees to 200, requiring property owners to consent to searches during the event, and adding provisions to ensure roads remain open for emergency vehicles and local traffic, adequate sanitation and insurance requirements.
“Based upon that experience, the county staff discovered certain provisions that were not really perfect,” David Fine, deputy civil prosecuting attorney for the county told the Chronicle. “The code is intended … to correct this.” – Staff Writers
