The final day of the TomorrowWorld festival was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions, but it was Saturday night’s extreme conditions and poor planning – which left thousands stranded outside the festival grounds – that is drawing heavy fire of criticism from attendees.
Thousands of soaked TomorrowWorld festival ticketholders who tried to leave the venue Saturday night after Hardwell’s closing set were forcefully stranded overnight along the side of muddy roads near the woods, once organizers stopped allowing taxis, Ubers and shuttles into the area. The 8,000-acre farmland 30 miles southwest of Atlanta provided no shelter for the thousands of stranded fans, with estimated attendance at 190,000. A steady stream of social media photos shows attendees sleeping in the mud, on wet grass, on police cruisers and more. Even worse, many shuttles and buses which had been onsite already were regularly impeded by the weather, getting stuck in the mud.
Fears of a worsening crisis led organizers to cancel day three of the electronic music event for commuters, meaning only 40,000 campers still on the festival grounds get to watch the final day’s shows.
“Mother nature has decided otherwise: TomorrowWorld will only be accessible to visitors currently camping at DreamVille. Continuous rainfall over the last three days has severely limited capacity of the parking lots, entrance roads and drop off locations in and around the festival site,” organizers announced early Sunday.
“The experience of the TomorrowWorld visitors is always number one priority, so TomorrowWorld was forced to close all daily parking lots and drop off locations. TomorrowWorld regrets that festivalgoers with day tickets, guest list tickets, and anyone not already camping at DreamVille will unfortunately not be able to access the festival. The last day of the festival will go on for the 40,000 visitors already situated in DreamVille, with David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, and Martin Garrix all on deck. More information and refund policy will be available soon.”
The Facebook page TomorrowWorld USA has become a landing point for outrage, with attendees posting pictures and statuses of their unfortunate circumstances (the page is now a closed group).
@TomorrowWorld Nice going charging VIP price and offering the homeless experience. Thousands of people sleeping on the road. #NotMagical
— The Old Grumpy Nerd (@OldGrumpyNerd) September 27, 2015
