State Police Focus On Safety During Electric Forest Festival

Let the fun begin.

More than 50,000 festival goers hit the Rothbury area for the 9th annual Electric Forest Festival.

The music festival, running from Thursday through Sunday, started as the Rothbury Music Festival but after a few years was reborn as the Electric Forest Festival and has grown every year since.

With that growth comes a need to keep them safe and alongside the security staff, the Michigan State Police is there to help.

“A successful Electric Forest Fest is one where everyone is safe,” says Lieutenant Christian Clute of the MSP.

They don’t want you to know exactly how many there are but MSP troopers from all over the state are at the Electric Forest Festival.

“We have a pretty good contingent here,” says Clute, “We’re ready to keep people safe.”

The festival goers are here to have fun, whatever form that takes. The police are watching to make sure it is contained and these people aren’t taken advantage of.

“Just like in any city, which this basically is a small city for these few days, people that come in and they will try to pray on the festival goers,” says Clute.

The festival goers appreciate it.

“I haven’t ran into any cops yet but I have run into the security staff and the event staff and they have all been really nice and helpful for anything you need,” says Joshua Copeland from Indiana.

“Everybody takes care of themselves,” says Eric Ball of Florida, “As far as security, they’re here for whatever little bit of riff-raff there is but I don’t see any of that.”

“Everybody here is happy with the crowd and just here to make sure you have a good time,” says Raven Graham of Florida.

The MSP say they are not here to deter anyone’s fun, they want people to have fun but to be safe. Festival goers wear candy bracelets that that the y trade with each other and the troopers are actually bringing their own so they can share.

“It’s a nice break from the regular police work we do on a day-to-day basis,” says Clute, “It’s different than any kind of police work that we would normally do back home at our post.”

Arrests made and accidents have happened but for a vast majority of the crowd on hand, the MSP wants a safe weekend.

“That’s what we’re shooting for,” says Clute, “That’s what we will have at this Electric Forest Fest.”