Since 1998 Shambhala Music Festival has occurred annually at Salmo River Ranch in Salmo, British Colombia August 7th – 12th. With 5 days of camping and 4 days of music Shambhala is one of Canada’s premiere electronic music festivals featuring a variety of electronic genres and artists. However recently, Shambhala has attracted media attention totally unrelated to music.
On the morning of August 12th, the final day of the festival, a female security guard was “dosed” by a member of the audience with a combination of LSD and GHB, more commonly known as the “date rape drug.” The security guard, whose name has not been released, accepted a sealed bottle of water from a member of the crowd at the “Fractal Forest” stage and was taken to a nearby hospital shortly after. In a statement released on Shambhala’s Facebook, Barry Wilding, the director of public safety for the festival has put forth a heartfelt plea to festival attendees to come forward with any information they may have. With over 10,000 attendees every year problems at Shambhala have been comparatively rare and staff has never heard of anything like this happening before and the event has taken staff completely by surprise. Salmo RCMP is currently conducting an ongoing investigation and Wilder cautions fans not to take any food or drink from strangers at events.
Billed by the festival as “a wonder world packed to the tops of the trees with sensory overload”, it is unsurprising that LSD was one of the drugs of choice and as worrying and shameful as this incident is I can’t say that I find its occurrence very surprising either. While thankfully this is a very unusual circumstance, in an environment as unpredictable as a music festival with so many attendees experimenting with drug use and entertaining questionable thought processes something along these lines was bound to happen eventually. I fully believe that overall festival goers are a kind, compassionate and generous group of individuals who strive to make the festival experience the best they can for themselves and those around them which is what makes this occurrence so disappointing.
Negative media attention is never good for anyone, but for a culture that is already criticized by so many it can be disastrous. As music lovers we must all come together to make sure we don’t supply those who are so quick to judge with any more ammo than they already have. Perhaps even sadder is the level of distrust that occurrences such as these can generate. One of the most beautiful aspects of attending a music festival, besides the music of course, is the level of camaraderie found between attendees. There is no easier place in the world to make friends, find people to help if you happen to be in a pickle and expand your social horizons. We can only hope that incidents like these remain isolated enough that these social aspects of music festivals never change.
Official Statement From The Festival’s Facebook:
If you were at the Fractal Forest on Monday Morning, please read – we need your help.
Open letter from the Director of Public Safety:
On Monday morning of the 12th, one of our security guards was given a SEALED bottle of water while working at the Fractal Forest. The bottle of water contained a high concentration of GHB and LSD. The guard was rushed to our medical facility where she received acute medical care. If not for our medical team, we are not certain what the outcome might have been. Suffice to say, they saved her life.
We are asking for the Shambhala community’s help. Our Investigation team, along with the RCMP, is looking into this matter. If you or anyone you know, knows who passed this bottle of water to the guard please do the right thing and come forward with the information. We don’t care how the information gets to us.
We have a workforce of close to one hundred guards and while we can’t assume personal responsibility for every action they do, we do our best to instill in them a high level of professionalism and respect for the guests and patrons who attend Shambhala. While not everyone may appreciate the work they do or understand the complexities of security and law enforcement, intentionally dosing a guard, or anyone for that matter, is unacceptable.
We have been in charge of the festival’s security for thirteen years. We have dealt with weapons, drug traffickers, gangsters, being assaulted, being verbally abused and so much more that goes unnoticed. We accept that as part of our job and our responsibility to keep you safe. Whether you realize it or not, you have one of the best security teams working for you in the industry.
I know, and my guards know, that 99.9% of the people who attend Shambhala are good souls and would never condone such an act. It is the 99.9% that keeps us coming back year after year. From management to staff to patrons, we have always had your back. Now it’s time for you to have ours!
Please come forward if you have any information.
Without prejudice
Barry R. Wilding
Director of Public Safety
Shambhala Music Festival