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Virgin Mobile FreeFest Attendance Down From 2011

COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) -- Howard County Police estimate that around 30,000 people attended this year's Virgin Mobile FreeFest in Maryland, thousands fewer than last year.

Saturday's music festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia was the fourth year of the festival.

The Baltimore Sun reports Howard County Police said attendance was much lower than last year's estimated 50,000 people. As of 8 p.m. Saturday police estimated there were between 30,000 and 32,000 people.

Thousands of free tickets to the event were distributed online in August and were claimed in minutes. Fans that didn't snag online tickets could get them by volunteering at youth homeless shelters in Baltimore, Washington and northern Virginia.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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