As if the Festival at Sewer Plant didn’t bring enough mayhem, with its beer tent, its liquored wastrels, and its doped-out druggies into our quiet neighborhood, to add further injury and insult, the Spokane-to-Sandpoint Team Relay has descended, boisterous and craven with their loud speakers, tents, and riotous nonsense to our quiet Lakeview Park. Garish vans park up and down the street slathered with “bad attitude,” not-for-the-eyes-of-children-under-13 slogans. This is not something I consider good for Sandpoint. In fact, the only people it pleases are the Realtors and the liquor, beer, and wine joints.
Ugly. Ugly attitudes, destructive behavior, and disturbing to the peace of the community and county. All this added to the chaos the Festival now brings to town for two solid weeks of noise torture.
My husband supports the Festival. He says, rightly so, that it’s the only bit of real culture we get here. But mostly bad country music, bad reggae (can you say marijuana party?), and bad pop-rock is NOT the Pacific Northwest’s version of Interlochen, which is what the Festival at Sandpoint was SUPPOSED to be, what it started out as, but not what it became after being bastardized by the local movers and shakers.
Don’t know what Interlochen is? Go here: http://www.interlochen.org/ It’s world class, that’s what. What we started to build here…only to have it devolve into party-animal central, of negligible worth, each year’s level of musicians deteriorating from consistently world class to mostly “never heard of them.”
That’s Sandpoint! Its motto? If it’s good, screw it till it reeks.
I am appalled at your comments regarding the team relay race. Did you even watch the race before you posted your comments? I participated in the event and can testify I did not see one single “bad attitude” slogan nor any alcohol/liquor as you stated. I DID however see MANY families competing together – complete with both parents and children. How on earth were we supposed to drink alcohol? It was hot, and we were commpeting in a physically intense event with very little down time. Did you see any of this with your own eyes or are you just assuming? It was an awesome, friendly, happy, cheerful event. It WAS loud and boisterous because we cheered eachother on. You sound incredibly nasty, judgmental and bitter. Do you even know how to have fun? I am a married, church attending mother of 3 and am just appalled that you think this event was a partying free for all. What I saw were awesome people supporting eachother, cheering eachother on, and working their tails off This event was great for the community. I feel sad that you let your own judgment cloud reality.
Three of the team vans parked in the neighborhood had four letter words on them that suggested unsuitable violence along with their less than appropriate language. (I guess I should have taken pictures and posted them for the world to see.) The rancid rap music was a ear bleed level down at Lakeview Park, its less than suitable messages blaring across the blocks of residences, one of which is my home. This later turned to country amidst the event announcer’s turned up PA system broadcasting to all our ears. Beer was evident, carried, open container, even, by some of your participants. (There IS an open container law in Sandpoint!) Attitude, especially among a couple of “ladies” who sported “marvy” condescension, stuck out. Now, several of the men who parked early in the day were polite and considerate. But, as the day wore on, so did the brashness and brazen, raucious noise.
You are appalled at my comments? I’m appalled that everyone considers that people living in a quiet neighborhood would DELIGHT in being inundated with an event belonging in a sports arena.
If you folks want to have “fun,” do it without imposing yourselves on the homes and lives of others without their consent. That’s what they have convention centers for. There ARE, in factr, those of us despise team sports and crowds. There ARE those of us who prefer more solitary and quiet pastimes. Me? Try cliff climbing, horseback riding (just me and the horse, thank you), hiking in solitude, gardening, reading books, listening to classical music, writing poetry, painting, composing and playing music, writing…. Those are my joys in life. Not rah-rah gang sports, thank you. And I have every right to expect that I can have my windows open AND my curtains open without having to hear and witness raucous noise, “attitudes,” and uncouth slogans that I would be ashamed for my mother to see, much less ANYBODIES kids!
It might be a minority of your team participants who exhibited bad behavior, but one bad apple ruins the barrel!