Featuring EDM artists from across the world, the Grove and Bass festival returned to the Pontiac this year. The event was held at the Paradise Leisure Park in Bryson, just beside the bridge to Calumet Island.

THE EQUITY was given a tour of the festival on Saturday and spoke to two organizers.

One organizer, Michael Pepin, estimated that there were between 1,000 and 2,000 people in . . .

attendance during the festival that ran between June 29 and July 6.

This is the second time Grove and Bass has been held in Byson.

Pepin estimated that over 200 performers and DJs were inattendance, with 60 being international, coming from places like Australia, Germany, and India.

The private land where the festival was held was dotted with kiosks from vendors from Quebec and Ottawa, selling everything from clothing, artwork, glassware, food and more.

The event had three stages and an artist camp dotted with cabins where the performers would stay, along with various other amenities for the guests.

The media representative for the event estimates that there were about 400 people working for the festival providing food, alcohol, security and other services.

The Grove and Bass festival has exclusive use of the land from the owner, meaning that the Grove and Bass festival is the only event that is allowed to host more than 150 people at the location. The group has a five year contract for the use of the park, and plan on returning each year.

“We can do whatever we want with the land and we’re putting a lot of money into it,” said the media representative. “We excavated everything; we’re making the water better. We put internet in.”

According to the media representative, the festival is entirely funded by ticket sales and kiosk sales, as well as donations.

The media representative said their goal of the festival is to become one of the biggest EDM festivals in the world. “We went from zero to like 100 without really a transition,” she said. “It’s really a peace, love and unity vibe.”

However, the festival has met with some criticism over noise complaints and concerns over its use of public resources of the emergency services.

On Monday night the Warden of the Pontiac, Jane Toller, announced that she thought the festival should be banned on Facebook, stating: “There is nothing good about them for the Pontiac and it uses the resources of our scarce emergency workers. They hold them here because we have few bylaws. I want to ban all future raves from the Pontiac and will start a petition.”

However, the Facebook postgenerally met with a negative response, with commenters saying that the festival contributes to local business and is no different from any other music festival held in the area.

Toller responded to several comments thanking them for their input.

Grove and Bass attendees dancing in front of the stages on Saturday afternoon.

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