Message posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on September 22, 2019 at 18:09:53 PST:
The Rachel event attracted about 2,000 visitors to a less than organized event site. It was essentially a dusty dirt lot with amateur bands playing on a makeshift stage and a couple of food vendors. There was very little infrastructure but fortunately most visitors seemed to have come prepared. Many of the visitors chose to camp on surrounding public land instead of paying for a camp site. All weekend long increasingly annoyed local residents were bothered by tourists racing through town on the dirt roads because the Inn not only failed to hire a security company but also failed to set up road blocks as promised. Rachel became a dust bowl and visitors put up signs like "No Alienstock" and "Go Home". By our count from analyzing drone footage the Inn made well over $150,000 in camp site rentals alone. By their own statement to the media the Inn sold 2,500 camp sites. At $130 a piece that comes out to an even more staggering number of $325.000. Plus sales, commission from vendors, etc. At least someone made a profit. Certainly not the county. By official statements this event cost the county upward of $250,000 for EMT, rescue units, overtime for local law enforcement and cost for calling in various departments and agencies from out of state. On top of that is cost for equipment, meals for first responders etc. As one Rachel resident put it, we could have all just handed the Inn $1,000 each and skipped the event. Actually Rachel would have been better off that way. After the event ended the town was left with trash blowing all over town. The organizers do not make any attempts to pick it up and within a few days the wind will have it spread all over the valley.
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