Rave cancelled due to neighborhood resistance

by Michael Howell

A two-day music and arts festival billed as “Lovers and Lunatics” that was planned to be held on private property up Fred Burr Road west of Victor was squashed at the last minute when the property owner pulled out following stiff resistance from many local residents.

Publicity for the event included an invitation to, “Join us for 2 days of romance and madness at Lovers and Lunatics! Full disclosure, this is a rave. That means plan on dancing, sweating, and raving all weekend. Featuring a vendor village (where you can meet your favorite local artisans and creatives), a wellness center (our first attempt at spreading mental health awareness and providing resources), 2 stages (one for Lovers; one for Lunatics), a reservoir (5 miles up the main trail), full-service bar, and a VIP lounge for those looking for a personalized experience. Safety is taken very seriously—zero-tolerance policy for misconduct and discrimination as per our code of conduct. EVERYONE is welcome. Come enjoy catered bar service and two nights of camping in Victor, MT!”

But what sounded like a Labor Day weekend celebration of clean fun and music to some sounded like a huge disturbance and a potential disaster to many people in the neighborhood, and beyond, leading to a petition with over 140 signatures being submitted to the Ravalli County Commissioners asking them to stop the event. 

Rhonda Clements, one of the concerned residents in the area who helped put the petition together, said that when neighbors first got wind of the event it raised lots of concerns about a couple thousand people coming up Fred Burr Road, clogging the roadway for a couple days and blasting loud music until midnight. But she said the primary concern expressed by many was the wildfire risk during peak fire season in a high-fuel-load area with narrow, single lane road access. She said water users from Fred Burr Reservoir were also concerned about potential impacts with that many people being invited to walk up the trail to the reservoir. She said strain on public resources including law enforcement, fire suppression, and medical response were also of concern. 

According to Clements,  a similar type of event was recently held up Bourne Creek with only 60 to 80 people in attendance and it drew about 26 calls to the Sheriff’s Office. “But the only thing they could do was write a ticket for violating the noise ordinance,” she said. Clements said they contacted the Forest Service, DNRC, the fire department, Sheriff’s Department and simply got shrugged off. She said that one reason people from up in Missoula were coming down here to the Bitterroot was due to the lack of any permitting requirements here, and the lack of any control over what’s happening. “So that’s when we decided to petition the County Commissioners to do something about it,” said Clements. 

The petition asks the commissioners to conduct a full review of the event plans and permitting status; require proof of all necessary permits, safety plans, and insurance; consult with law enforcement, fire services, DNRC. and FWP; evaluate whether this location is suitable for a large-scale festival; and establish clear event guidelines for rural residential areas.

Clements said, although they were successful in stopping this particular event, they were not going to stop the outcry. “We are trying to make this sort of a grassroots thing and get some sort of control over things like this, some sort of permitting system or something,” she said.

Event organizer Ivan Gallego said, “I’ve just been trying to create fun engaging opportunities for young people. It’s pretty sad how this whole thing shook out.”

Gallego claims the bulk of the resistance to the festival can be placed on the doorstep of Suart Draper, a neighbor to the property owner that was hosting the event. He said, “Draper and his gang called my sponsors, my food trucks, my vendors, attendees, somehow called my mom, they called everybody that I was working with from Montana Pro Audio, Elevation Productions, and essentially lied to their faces, saying this was going to be a huge awful drug fest that’s going to damage the environment and blah, blah, blah and scared off all of my business partners.”

Gallego said he was a native Montanan with a background in endurance.

“I’m here to take care of the environment, I study neuro-science at the university, I’m a mental health advocate, this festival was a confluence of all of my greatest strengths in one place and it was here to serve the community,” said Gallego.

He said the so-called facts on the petition are all incorrect. “They don’t know how legitimate this event is with two million dollar insurance policies, a security team, a medical team, a fire watch. It’s very unfortunate. It was a very safe, legitimate, well-organized, thoughtful event we had planned.” He said he looked into suing Draper for “defamation, spreading dis-information, slander, tortuous interference, but I can’t really afford that, the venue owners can’t really afford that, but we definitely have a case.”  

Gallego said that he had incurred tens of thousands of dollars in non-refundable payments preparing for the event. “So, I am deep in the hole and just have to climb back out. He’s created himself to be an enemy so all I want to do now is have this event. It’s my only focus. It’s going to be bigger and better than it was going to be this year. He has motivated me even more than I knew I needed to be.”

“You can’t argue against the message of this event and the aims of this event,” said Gallego. “It’s bringing the community together supporting mental health and presenting a new type of music, electronic music and raving that is being stigmatized. It’s not drugs. It’s not violence. No way. Some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met are so-called ravers.  So, we are going to bring it back and it’s going to be magical.” He said the cancellation has actually brought forward a lot of new support.

Draper declined to comment on Gallego’s allegations. But he has filed a police report alleging he was illegally doxed by Gallego by a posting of his telephone number on-line.