There were a lot of noise complaints and a couple of drug arrests, but overall, police think things went smoothly at last weekend’s MASSV music festival at the River Run base of Bald Mountain.
“I think the law enforcement and security forces worked well together,” said Ketchum Police Chief Steve Harkins. “The coordination between security and law enforcement was well planned.”
Harkins noted that there were two arrests made for felony possession of cocaine. A 20-year-old man from Montana was arrested for allegedly possessing 1.5 grams of cocaine on Saturday morning at about 1:05 a.m. Harkins said the cocaine was allegedly found on the man after he was transported to St. Luke’s Wood River hospital for “medical reasons.”
The other arrest occurred later Saturday when cocaine was allegedly found in the backpack of a 21-year-old man.
Other than that, Harkins said police were “busy, very busy,” and not just because of MASSV.
“There were a lot of events in town and a lot of people in town,” he said. “The only thing we did get was a lot of noise complaints.”
Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall said that as a result of excessive noise at the event, he will ask the City Council to reduce the allowable noise level in Ketchum, require next year’s MASSV event to end earlier than this year’s 2 a.m. cutoff, and require speakers next year to point toward Baldy rather than toward town.
Harkins said there were no DUI arrests in the area, even though there were four police “emphasis patrols,” two involving Ketchum police and two involving Idaho State Police, especially on the lookout for impaired drivers.
“Not one arrest, so that was good,” Harkins said.
Police weren’t the only ones who stayed busy over the weekend. Staff at St. Luke’s Wood River hospital had one of their busiest weekends of the year.
Hospital spokeswoman Jenny King said 89 people were brought to the emergency room on Friday and Saturday alone. She said that nine of those were connected to the MASSV event and six of those were drug- or alcohol-related.
King said another 53 people were treated for “very minor injuries” at a medical tent the hospital set up at the scene of the event.
Hall said the event went very well.
“We got a lot of compliments,” he said. “We were successful in that we brought thousands of young people to our community.”
