Cars were backed up for nearly a mile on the evening of June 16, as patrons tried to enter the Wakarusa Music Festival at Clinton Lake State Park. Staff expediently moved one car after another through the park with no major traffic delays the entire weekend.

The music festival began June 16 and ended June 19, with campers and other guests enjoying a myriad of activities ranging from listening to music to the use of illegal drugs.

Festival organizers divided the park into two main areas. One housed the campers and a couple of stages; the other was designated for the main stages and registered vendors.

Buses, called the No Waka, ran all day shuttling people from one end of the festival to the other.

A few enterprising individuals developed a homemade version of a rickshaw for people who didn’t want to walk or wait for the buses.

Even though the crowd had to walk between sites, the music was the main focus of the festival, and accordingly, organizers placed stages throughout the park.

In an expansive field to the southeast of the campsite were the two main stages, called Sun Up and Sun Down. The fields could hold more than 10,000 people each, Aaron Murga, Denver staff member, said. The festival sold out all tickets for June 18 and 19.

The other major stage was the Revival tent, which was approximately 1000 square feet. It housed a stage, loading area and audience seating.

In the camping area the audience could go to either a bluegrass stage or another, smaller version of the revival tent.

Other, smaller tents housed disc jockeys and open stages throughout the park.

Near the main stages, Sun Up and Sun Down, were the sanctioned vendors. These vendors paid a $300 fee and got the best placement in relation to the main stages.

Food, drink and all different types of apparel could be purchased by attendees. Even a massage parlor and tattoo tent were set up in the vendor area.

Customers were allowed to take anything they purchased into the designated camping areas, but were only allowed to bring water back into the main stage and vendor area.

After three days of this practice, the campsite portion of the park was littered with trash. Crews worked to clean off the streets where people had brought their garbage. Organizers had set up specific trash areas, but by June 19 people began to place it on the side of the street.

Patrons began to leave June 19 and continued until the morning of June 20, leaving behind trash and a lot of trampled grass.