Elverta Residents Brace For More Events At Gibson Ranch
By Kelly Ryan
ELVERTA (CBS13) – Aftershock Festival brought in 25,000 people Saturday. With 20,000 more fans were expected Sunday – with loud hard rock and gridlock – some neighbors were bracing for the worst.
"A couple of months ago they had the City of Trees event here and that was a traffic nightmare. Lots of noise and lots of cars," said Ken Moore, who's backyard faces the entrance to Gibson Ranch.
Day two of Aftershock Festival also had the cars and the gridlock
Former Congressman and real estate developer Doug Ose operates the park, which is owned by the county. He was directing traffic Sunday after a glitch sent concert goers to the wrong entrance.
"Yesterday between noon and three it was war," Ose said. "Right now everyone's GPS is bringing them here so you can see it start to happen."
He admits the traffic issue is a problem he is trying to solve.
"This is just one entrance. There are two more on the northwest corner and they park in about 200 acres we've rented from the guy next door," Ose said.
Ose says parking, along with security issues, are things he's able to cover because his team has planned for the worst.
"We had three arrests yesterday, five evacuations for medical reasons and one car fire – all handled seamlessly," Ose said.
But he balks at complaints from some neighbors about trash.
"We had 25,000 people there yesterday; there's not trash in this park; we cleaned it up," Ose said.
He says his crews will focus on surrounding areas after the concert. And though the bands can get very loud, Moore has no complaints about the quiet in his rural neighborhood being spoiled.
"The stages are in back so we get a little noise, not much, not offensive at all," Moore said.
But he is a little concerned over the plan to have 8 to 12 events a year at Gibson Ranch. In the past, there has been just one or two.
"This has been just Gibson Ranch, where people come to enjoy a country place, a pond, picnic tables," Moore said.
Moore says he understands the need to bring in more revenue, but hopes future concerts will work like Aftershock – even though he acknowledges he didn't recognize any of the bands taking the stage.