'Moonrise' Plans To Return Next Year Despite Medical Calls
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- There's a lot of noise surrounding the Moonrise Festival after dozens of people in attendance were hospitalized and hundreds were treated by first responders this past weekend.
The music festival held at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday and Sunday brought together some of the biggest names in electronic dance music and hip hop along with thousands of fans.
As Saturday wore on, WJZ's Mike Hellgren reports, the Baltimore City Fire Department handled an alarming number of emergency calls at the venue. Authorities confirm 49 people were taken to the hospital on that day alone, many of them for dehydration.
"We came in contact with a little more than 800 patients," said fire department spokesperson Samuel Johnson, whose agency said there were no overdoses at the festival.
RELATED: Dozens Of Moonrise Festival Attendees Hospitalized
In a statement posted to the festival's website, organizers reminded people be safe and make smart decisions.
Just two years ago, the festival survived calls for its cancellation after reports of overdose deaths at similar festivals, including two who died at the Mad Decent Block Party at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in nearby Columbia. The victims, a University of Maryland sophomore and a 17-year-old high school student, likely died from drug overdose.
Concern has been mounting in recent years about the use of club drugs, like ecstacy and Molly, at music festivals and raves. The drug can lead to a spike in body temperature, which has at times proven deadly.
Just this weekend in Ohio, first responders treated several dozen people for overdoses at a music festival about 90 miles southwest of Cleveland. Afterward, police charged Matthew Lee Gross with a felony drug charge, alleging he distributed packs of candy laced with a potent dose of THC, which is derived from cannabis, that wound up making people sick.
As for Moonrise, organizers said they have no plans of leaving and they vowed to return next year.
