The past weekend was massive for live music in Australia.
The long reel of festivities included the likes of Golden Plains, Future Music Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Chill Out, Mardi Gras, A Festival Called PANAMA and Maitreya, and courtesy of the internet, the aftermath of the latter two events has emerged with some highly contrasting leftovers that’ll leave you both proud, and very disappointed.
We’ll start with the positive, PANAMA fest held in the pristine location of north Tasmania that featured the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, #1 Dads and many more went off without a hitch, festival organisers absolutely thrilled with the care taken by appreciative punters, posting a photo to their Facebook of the remaining rubbish they were forced to clean up which looked a little something like this:
Meanwhile the super popular bush doof Maitreya left a much different imprint on the hallowed grounds of Wooroonook Lake near the central Victorian of town Charlton, with a shocking amount of trash littered around the festival grounds, the festival itself posting the following video to its official YouTube:
Comparing the scant bottle, cup and small plastic bag of rubbish at PANAMA to endless amount of turnt couches, ripped apart tents, piles of rubbish and other festival paraphernalia at Maitreya, it’s gravely disappointing to see that a large group of party-goers have disgraced the beautiful lakeside location.
Maitreya prides itself on the environmental significance of the festival, so much as writing the following to their website, “It is our duty not only as festival goers, but as friends of the earth to absolutely leave no trace from the gathering once we leave. If we can become responsible caretakers of the land, as is our heritage, we can continue to gather here for many moons to come….If we cant…sadly with the indictment on our shoulders we will have to leave… We are calling on a community effort in this area this year, and we will be telling you lots more about the actions you can get involved in over the coming months. Just keep thinking LEAVE NO TRACE!”
This by no means is an attack on the organisers of Maitreya festival but a strong reminder to all festival punters to take care of their surrounds when partying, it’s not hard to clean up your rubbish, and as Tim from the Charlton Football Club comments, “fairs fair, you wouldn’t do this to your Mum or Dad’s place or your own, don’t do it at our lake.”
