SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. (WSPA)- One of Greenville’s biggest music festivals is starting tomorrow, but the event is now getting some backlash from people who leave nearby.
Thousands of people are expected to be at the Greenville Country Music Festival this weekend.
However, some who live by the stage, have reservations about the event.
“We have people in our neighborhood setting up a neighborhood watch for those two nights,” President of the Heritage Creek HOA, Nathan Jared said.
Jared says he was told there’s only going to be a handful of patrolmen from the Simpsonville Police Department working the whole weekend.
“When you have a lack of security and 12 hours of serving alcohol and music until all hours of the night, we’re not naive enough to know there’s going to be some rowdiness,” Jared said.
He also says there’s a noise ordinance in Simpsonville that goes in place at 11:00 every night, but is worried the concert will go way past 11:00.
“Somehow this event was given permission, again from what we’re told to have after hour concerts and music parties until 1 a.m., which we know the reality is we’re probably looking at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning,” Jared said.
Another issue, Jared says is the overnight camping during the festival.
“Now you open it to basically free roaming and roaming at your will throughout that park at any time of the night. It’s obviously a huge concern for everybody in this neighborhood,” Jared said.
The Simpsonville Police Department said in a statement, “We have the event completely staffed. As far as overnight security goes, we do have overnight patrolling for the event. It’s around the clock security coverage, starting 3:30 on Friday afternoon through Monday morning.”
We spoke to the event company planning the festival.
They said they have nothing to do with how many police are there this weekend, and that it’s up to the city.
