Gorge festival sends fewer to hospital ER

GEORGE, Wash. – The number of Paradiso Festival concertgoers taken to the Quincy Valley Medical Center this year was about half as many as last year.

Jail bookings, however, were on par with last year’s music event at the Gorge Amphitheatre.

Live Nation, which owns the Gorge, attributed fewer medical problems to increased safety and security measures, including more officers, on-site medical personnel and two dozen extra water stations.

About 27,500 people a day attended the electronic music event on Friday and Saturday.

The Quincy hospital, which was overwhelmed by sick people from the festival last year, reported that just under half of the 94 people treated in the emergency room between Thursday and Saturday were from the festival. That is down from 88 concertgoers last year, including one person who died of a drug overdose.

Four of the patients this year were transferred to other hospitals, including Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office had an increased presence at this year’s Paradiso Festival, with stations set up on site to handle complaints and more uniformed and undercover officers. The agency responded to 76 incidents and booked 23 people into jail, which was nearly the same as last year’s numbers, spokesman Kyle Foreman said.

Incidents investigated by deputies included illegal drug activity, assault, trespassing, fraud, theft and minor traffic accidents.

Most of those booked into jail were for drug-related crimes, such as distributing and selling dangerous drugs.

“Aside from the small amount of people who were responsible for a small percentage of crime or bad behavior, the majority of the concertgoers were polite and just wanted to have a good time,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

In a statement, Gorge General Manager Danny Wilde said, “We are pleased with not only the turnout but also the various increased crowd safety measures we instituted this season that seemed to work well.”