A news publication out of Springville, IN called the Hoosier Times has released a familiar article we see every year a few weeks before the Gathering of the Juggalos. It details how police and emergency responders are preparing for the event going down at the Lawrence County Recreational Park, July 31st-August 3rd.
The Lawrence County Sheriff is confident they’ll have everything under control. They don’t expect to have any issues they wouldn’t have at any other events.
Honestly it seems like they’re concerned with the well being of the Juggalos more than anything else as they expect it to be pretty fuckin’ hot those days. There aren’t that many ambulances in the county but they’ll be bringing in as many as they can to cover the event. So that’s dope.
One other piece of information detailed in the article I thought was very fresh is that the operations director of the local recreational park did an investigation before giving the OK to the Gathering. He talked to landlords and police and found out that most of them had no issues with Gathering and actually wanted them back the previous year! This is contrary to what a lot of publications are saying in the media.
You can check out the full article over at HoosierTimes.com by CLICKING HERE but you have to sign up for the site and then purchase a subscription. Fuck that though, I got the hook up. Save your pennies and check out the entire article below.
Props to Derrek Tipton, Sheriff Mike Branham and Rayce Guthrie.
Police, emergency responders ready for Gathering of the Juggalos
SPRINGVILLE — With thousands expected to attend the Gathering of the Juggalos later this month at the Lawrence County Recreational Park, police and emergency responders are solidifying their plans for the event.
“We’re feeling pretty confident,” said Lawrence County Sheriff Mike Branham. “I feel like we’ve got a good plan in place, and we’ve had a good dialogue with the stakeholders involved in this.”
The Gathering, which is a festival started by rap group Insane Clown Posse, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary and will make Lawrence County its home for the first time. The event is set for July 31 to Aug. 3.
Though some rumors pointed to crowds of around 10,000 or 15,000, Branham said, based on pre-sale ticket data from the the event’s promoter, it will be more like 6,000 to 8,000.
There are some who have expressed concern about the festival because of past events, including a stabbing during the 2012 edition in Hardin County, Illinois, and a drowning in the Ohio River in 2011.
From 2014 to 2016 and again in 2018, the Gathering was held in Licking County, Ohio. In a previous Times-Mail story, Licking County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Tom Brown said police approached it like “any other concert we had.”
“There was a lot of hype around it originally,” Brown said in March. “We didn’t have any major problems we wouldn’t have had at other concerts.”
He also added, when thousands of people are put together from all walks of life, “you’re bound to have some problems” regardless of the event.
Branham said his office talked with Licking County police about its experience with the event.
“I talked to the sheriff’s office in Licking County,” Branham said. “They were really concerned about the first event held in their county. The subsequent events didn’t have major problems. … They had some minor drug arrests and alcohol arrests. There was also one incident of criminal mischief where they were tagging graffiti on private property.”
Branham said his biggest concern was the need for ambulance transportation and it taxing the emergency response system.
“We could have a heat index of more than 100 and have a lot of people dehydrated,” he said.
Valerie Luchauer, Lawrence County’s emergency management director, said she was told there could be the possibility of 20 or more transports per day.
“It’s going to be hot,” Luchauer said. “If it’s really hot like it’s been this week, that always ups the need due to dehydration.”
While ambulance resources are often stretched thin in the county, Luchauer said AMR will have the contract to cover the event.
“That is a plus that we’ll have a local service there, so we can anticipate what resources will be needed … and they intend to use some additional resources,” Luchauer said. “There (are) multiple times throughout the year where we are stretched thin anyway … we just hope it isn’t greater than what we are used to.”
In a previous Times-Mail story, Rayce Guthrie, operations director of the local recreational park, compared the annual event to the ABATE Boogie, which takes place July 18-21 this year. He said park staff conducted a thorough investigation before committing to the Gathering.
“We investigated the previous sites, talked to landlords, talked to police around them,” Guthrie told the Times-Mail. “And what we found was that it’s not as bad as the articles were saying. A lot of folks were saying they liked having them back.”
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