First Bonfire Music Festival takes place on Shivwits Reservation

Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 3, 2015 | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News

SHIVWITS RESERVATION — The saying goes that if you build it, they will come. And for the first Bonfire Music Festival, produced by Heart of Dixie, come they did.

Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 3, 2015 | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News
Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 3, 2015 | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News

With an estimated 2,000 or more in attendance, festival-goers enjoyed a night full of music, vendors, camping, dancing and tailgating.

At 10 p.m. Saturday, a line of cars reached from the venue entrance all the way to Old Highway 91 as staff worked to move people into the festival.

Salt Lake City artist DJ Bangarang worked the turn tables alongside local DJ’s like DJ Colucci and Misterkay.

The camping village was bustling with tents, coolers, camp chairs and party people. The option to camp allowed for a safe alternative to driving for attendees who chose to drink.

Colleen Yazzie and Misty Snow, Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 3, 2015 | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News

Safety is a big concern, event organizer Jared Keddington said, adding that they had 25 security guards on-site.

Since the festival was held on tribe-owned land, event organizers have some freedoms that wouldn’t have been allowed if they had attempted the event in city limits, he said, such as stopping people on their way out to check if the driver had been drinking.

“At some point tonight when people start leaving, (security) will have an exit check,” Keddington said. “If someone’s been drinking, we’re not going to let them leave. I’m not going to condone that or let it happen.”

He went on to say that staff could call cabs for those people wanting to leave.

As part of event organizer’s agreement with the tribe for leasing the land, the main food and drink vendors for the festival were the Shivwit Band of Paiutes.

“It’s helping out the people on the reservation, as many of them as we can possibly employ to get this thing to happen was our deal with them,” Keddington said. “The tribe has actually been really great to work with,” he went on to say.

Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 4, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Misty Snow, St. George News
Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 4, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Misty Snow, St. George News

The Bonfire Music Festival wasn’t originally envisioned to take place on the reservation, but when Keddington saw the land, he knew he had found their venue.

“There’s just so much room for growth, so we just went all out on it and turned it into a huge production,” Keddington said. “We want everybody that comes out to have a really good time and feel like what happened out here was really good and worth coming back to.”

He added that he hopes the festival’s success will help catapult the location into an established music festival venue.

“I think St. George needs it,” he said, “like in a really bad way.”

10544309_1218811208176540_1993225265441865683_n
Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 4, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Heart of Dixie, St. George News
12119071_1218811188176542_2627184650974367448_n
Bonfire Music Festival, Shivwits Reservation, Utah, Oct. 4, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Heart of Dixie, St. George News

Resources

Related Posts

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

3 Comments

  • sagemoon October 5, 2015 at 9:48 am

    Awesome, awesome, awesome. I’m so glad Heart of Dixie and the Shivwits Tribe are able to bring some fun for the college crowd to southern Utah. I would love to see this become a regular event. I’m too old to rave ’til dawn but this event has my support in other ways.

  • whocares October 5, 2015 at 5:00 pm

    Sexual assault, underage drinking and drugs flowing everywhere. That was one heck of a party. And no rules or laws because it was on the reservation. I love this concept. Heart of Dixie you rock! I am hoping for another all nighter.

    • sagemoon October 6, 2015 at 8:50 am

      So you were there? Tell me more. Were the dj’s any good? Was the bonfire awesome? Were the attendees happy and dancing? Were a lot of people tailgating? Did the concessions offer a good selection? I want to hear all about your experience at Bonfire. And if you can’t tell me because you weren’t there, you should quit making up lies about what you “think” happened that night. Not all young people are sex crazed alcoholics and drug users. A lot of people go to these events because they like the music, they like to dance, and they like to hang out with their friends. Simple. As. That.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.