'Groovestock' 3-Day Music Festival Shut Down When Landowners Balk
HARVARD, Ill. (CBS) -- Police pulled the plug on a music festival that was expected to draw 1,000 people this past weekend, after the owners of the land for the festival said they were only expecting 20 campers to show up.
As WBBM Newsradio's Julie Mann reports, the even dubbed "Groovestock" was billed as a place to "Groove and Rage ... Employing the same beliefs and feelings of Peace, Love, Unity, Respect and most importantly Responsibility..." as the Woodstock festival in upstate New York in 1969.
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Groovestock was planned on several acres in a wooded area near Harvard in McHenry County.
Police said promoters of the three-day music festival expected at least 1,000 concertgoers. More than 40 DJs were set to appear on two stages at the event, which was promoted as a "weekend camping experience" by its promoter, Turn up the Bass Productions.
Tickets were priced at only $10 and $20.
But the plans were soon deflated when the property owner got wind that his land was going to be the venue for the weekend concert party.
The owner had only approved use of the property for a weekend camping trip for about 20 people who all knew each other.
McHenry County Sheriff's deputies and Harvard police officers showed up at the concert site as crews set up entertainment stages, generators and sound equipment. They met with promoter Scott "Smalz" Lansford of Rockford, who insisted that a relative of the property owner had given permission for a camping gathering at the site, police said.
"They were not aware that 1,000 people and a concert were planned over a three-day period on their property," Undersheriff Andy Zinke said in a statement. "The property owners requested the sheriff's office remove all unauthorized people and their belongings off the property."
Police told the organizers Groovestock would not be happening, and the organizers left without protest.
Sheriff's deputies continued to patrol the area over the weekend so uninformed ticket holders did not trespass on the property.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
