Eden Festival

[Paul ™]

After reading various comments on here especially from Paul I can only come the conclusion that an attempt was made to sabotage what was an excellent festival.

[elfweirdigan]

I've been listening to a lot of reports from people who were at Eden. Most say it was, overall, a great little festie. Complaints include the hassle getting onsite (4-5 hours delay in some cases, with poor information and some vehicles getting stuck in mud and this not being dealt with very well); and too much too loud dance music/bass which blasted some of the camping/campervan areas and made many traders' experiences quite hellish; and not enough in the way of properly chilled out spaces.

At a first festie I'd have been very surprised if there weren't some 'teething troubles' - and the fact that most people I've spoken to were very positive about the festival despite these problems suggests it was actually very good! I don't believe there was any co-ordinated attempt to smear Eden, it seemed to me that there was just information, speculation and opinion being bandied about, plus an understandable concern in some areas about how many festivals the North can sustain. Festie forums can be great tools for drumming up excitement and publicity... but sometimes they get a bit twisted and bite back! The interesting thing will be to see how the organisers respond to feedback and whether they manage to resolve problems by next year... fingers crossed

[eFestivals]

re conspiracy

-well, certainly there was an organised campaign against eden by certain individuals/groups

-I alerted the Eden organisers to this, although I'm sure they were already aware of it.

-this was weeks prior to the festival starting, those posts, including some on the e-festivals site, were removed, presumably down to the actions of the organisers to stop this kind of bad-mouthing (it went beyond that, in fact).

-shame some feel they had to do this, as above all else, the vibe eminating from Eden and the organisers and everyone associated with it has been absolutely superb.

-I look forward to eden 2010

just noticed this post.

There was just one post removed from here, which was a cut&paste of a post made on another forum (stating that it was, and saying that the person who'd made that original post was "a cock" - so the post here wasn't really trying to undermine Eden), which did indeed appear to be part of an organised campaign to try to screw Eden.

eFestivals was contacted by the Eden organisers, and were happy to remove that post for them when our attention had been brought to it.

Regarding the suggestion that Paul TM's posts were a part of that campaign, I'd be very surprised if they were. There was definitely a lot of problems in the area the festival was held in due to rain, both the night before and on the day the festival started - so that part is true; and surely any regular festie go-er is well aware that sometimes stewards etc are poorly briefed, and so can cause confusion for people trying to arrive (which sounds like the case for Paul's arrival, not helped by the weather at that time).

I'm sure those that know where some (if not all) of the Eden bad-mouthing was coming from don't think much of the people involved in that bad-mouthing, or the festival that they appeared to be doing that bad mouthing in favour of.

It's one thing calling a balls-up a balls-up but another thing entirely to be saying that about an event which had not yet ever happened.

Edited September 25, 2009 by eFestivals

[Paul ™]

just noticed this post.

There was just one post removed from here, which was a cut&paste of a post made on another forum (stating that it was, and saying that the person who'd made that original post was "a cock" - so the post here wasn't really trying to undermine Eden), which did indeed appear to be part of an organised campaign to try to screw Eden.

eFestivals was contacted by the Eden organisers, and were happy to remove that post for them when our attention had been brought to it.

Regarding the suggestion that Paul TM's posts were a part of that campaign, I'd be very surprised if they were. There was definitely a lot of problems in the area the festival was held in due to rain, both the night before and on the day the festival started - so that part is true; and surely any regular festie go-er is well aware that sometimes stewards etc are poorly briefed, and so can cause confusion for people trying to arrive (which sounds like the case for Paul's arrival, not helped by the weather at that time).

I'm sure those that know where some (if not all) of the Eden bad-mouthing was coming from don't think much of the people involved in that bad-mouthing, or the festival that they appeared to be doing that bad mouthing in favour of.

It's one thing calling a balls-up a balls-up but another thing entirely to be saying that about an event which had not yet ever happened.

[Eden festival]

To all who came, participated, experienced and shared in our first year of Eden a MASSIVE thank you and by far the best part of the festival was the bunch of lovely peeps who came along....

To clear up on the sabotage thingy, there was a bit of belly rumbling from along the road that got a bit out of hand, but break ups are never easy and the fear of the unknown can sometimes result in hostility. I am well aware of the directions these false rumours and unfounded claims came from and am confident it was more organisiation than individual. Feedback both positive but more so negative is critical to helping us improve and work more closely with the peeps that make a festival... the festival goers.

Sorry I havent been on sooner to report on weather, access to site or post a note from the organisers, the take down and aftermath has been lengthy but the weather has been fantastic and made all this a bit easier.

I fully understand there is alot to address for future years. We will have to look at the site, traffic management, waste management, security, sound control, more installation and decoration, much much more family activities and crafts etc etc.

Our waste management team is a lovely group of local lads and lassies that care about recycling. Unfortunatley due to traffic management issues they had to redirect most of their attention over the weekend. The team leader also spent all weekend in his 4x4 pulling peoples out the mud. Everything is being processed now and will be recycled and seperated out ready for collection on monday. They now have some experience in this field and have learnt alot of vital knowledge to improve for next year. As is the same with most areas of the festival as a whole.

Security... Half were absolutely amazing and half were absolutely abysmal. I will never tolerate meat head security at Eden and will make sure we have 100% absolutely amazing next year. Credit to Jeff n Rab and the boys for providing kind and caring security and dealing with the less desirables amongst the squad.

Traffic Management....Logistically a festival in a forest is always going to be a little tricky but we went up against it a little with torrential rain and our one way system being pulled by local police only to be reinstated once we had a 4 and a half hour traffic jam. Massive thanks to pixie poo for her relentless attention and enthusiasm. Hopefully next year she can put together a team and run this area as her experience pulled us through some tricky times.

Installations and decor.... Due to the torrential rain and constant rumours of cancellation, alot of things did not take place this year that were supposed to. We also had to lay temporary tracking by hand to get all vehicles on and off the main arena which seemed to triple the time the set up took. Next year we will be drafting a whole division who solely concentrate on making a installing the decorations and installations. We have so much planned and enough time to repair and create for next years festival. This is a massive part of what we are trying to do at the festival and will endevour to go beyond expectations each year.

Family Friendliness.... More fluff, less noise, more activities and loads more processions and involvement for the young uns. We are going to make family friendliness one of our top priorities for next year and are working closely with a couple of other groups to make this a great experience for families. I fully understand complaints from families and will make sure these areas are not only looked into but dealt with.

This festival was organised, crafted, run and managed by a load of locals from the Galloway, the majority of them under the age of 25, but a wide of old and young with boundless enthusiasm and sense of community. None of them production experts or specialists and all on a steep learning curve. This has been a massive learning experience for us and although we definatley need to polish up and strengthen up production and logistics, there is an overwhelming ammount of love and magic flowing through a community of peeps in the Galloway and beyond and i am sure that with the right set of principals amongst our team and some patience from you the participants, we can get there on our long road to Eden.

Thank you, we love you, good bye from good times and hopefully we can get the chance to traverse a little further with you next year. You have my word that we will give it everything we have between now and then for the sake of priceless beautiful moments and memories with some of the most remarkable creatures on this planet.

With love from Eden

[just7]

great post from 'Eden festival' and shows you how much these guys care.

Yes, clearly with the experience of this year, lessons will be learnt for next year, but lets not forget what a brilliant event you put on this year. Stunning location, great line up, main stage and four other performance/stage areas, all of those four under-cover as well! But the main thing about Eden was the people who attended, fantastic friendly vibe all week-end long.

Looking forward to Eden 2010, when are advance tickets on sale, as I ,and I'm sure many others, are keen to support this event in any way we can.

[Guest Flip]

Well we are coming next year for sure!! All reports from people I know and trust were positive 100% Location is stunning and the line-up was soooo tempting!!!

Idiotic smear campaigns will do nothing except undermine those involved!!!!

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Well we are coming next year for sure!! All reports from people I know and trust were positive 100% Location is stunning and the line-up was soooo tempting!!!

Idiotic smear campaigns will do nothing except undermine those involved!!!!