Earlier this month, Golden Gate Park was the site of the fourth annual Outside Lands Music Festival. Headlined by popular acts such as Phish, Arcade Fire and Muse, the festival was a complete sellout, attended by more than 180,000 people over the three-day span.
The event was a huge success, receiving nothing but rave reviews from the media, from the Huffington Post to Rolling Stone Magazine, calling it the best Outside Lands to date.
Perhaps the highlight of the concert was Mayor Ed Lee’s appearance on the main stage in front of thousands of people, proclaiming it Outside Lands Weekend in San Francisco. This was the first appearance by a San Francisco mayor at Outside Lands, symbolizing just how much the festival has become part of the fabric of the city.
With 50 local restaurants, food trucks and confectioners present, the festival has become a celebration of the San Francisco food culture. Additionally, three dozen local vintners were featured in the Winelands tent.
Over 45,000 city residents attended the event, of which, almost 14,000 came from the four districts that border the park, showing the festival’s appeal to not just out-of-towners but to locals as well.
The economic effect on the city was huge. The festival created 4,500 jobs with hotels and restaurants reporting an uptick in business over the weekend. Our department received $1,450,000 from this year’s concert ($4.3 million over the past four years), money that is helping to support our parks and programs during difficult financial times.
The event was a collaboration with Another Planet Entertainment, the Mayor’s Office, police and SFMTA. To minimize impact to the surrounding neighborhoods, a hotline was set up to log comments and complaints over the weekend. To illustrate what a terrific job everyone did, the number of complaints each day decreased as crews responded in real time to sound complaints. By Sunday, only 47 complaints were logged, compared to 143 the day before.
I want to thank Another Planet, which has gone above and beyond and has proven to be a terrific partner to work with; our staff, which works tirelessly behind the scenes to make this event happen each year; and IATSE and Local 16 for their efforts.
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