Police lights shine brightest during GLOWfest

Electronic fans filled Mylan Park Friday during GLOWfest.

The entire day was full of fans dancing to some of the best up-and-coming artists in the electronic music genre, including Paper Diamond, Krewella, Bingo Players and Porter Robinson and Zedd back-to-back.

It was also a great opportunity to gain exposure for some of the area’s local artists, The Clintonics and Fletcher’s Grove, the latter serving as the only live band to perform.

The event was highly anticipated by students and other electronic fans in the surrounding community, but the Monongalia Sheriff’s Department and the security staff were overwhelmed and nearly stopped the show because of suspected drug use inside of the venue.

"It is a large concert for college students, so of course there will always be illegal substances there. We took all proper methods to prevent any incidents," said event promoter Adam Payne. "Mon County sheriff department were hired along with 25 uniformed security guards to ensure public safety and prevent illegal substance abuse and underage drinking."

The music was actually paused during a set in order for the Sheriff’s Department to warn concert-goers they may shut down the show if more drugs were found in the venue.

"Mylan was overreacting over a few individual incidents and taking it out on the whole crowd," Payne said. "We trimmed down some of the sets because they were really being harsh on the crowd and didn’t want it to escalate."

While most of the attendees were having a great time, there were a few who were put off by the venue’s strict policies.

Multiple concert-goers expressed their disapproval of the way police officers and the security staff were following people into the bathroom to make sure there was one person per stall.

"The police were a giant buzz kill. They came in and pissed all over the fun. They disrupted the DJ’s sets by making them read a prompt about drugs," said Brandi Hosiflook, a GLOWfest attendee. "I’ve been to tons of concerts, shows and venues, and I have never witnessed police harassing people as much as they did at GLOWfest. We just wanted to dance."

"Once they shut down the smoking area and started forcing girls to go to the bathroom one at a time, we decided to speed it up before it got worse," Payne said.

The event was scheduled to end at 11:30 p.m., but because of problems with some of the concert-goers, it ended early.

"We only ended 20 minutes sooner – I really wouldn’t say we got shut down, though. The acts were scheduled until 11:30 but were only playing until 11:15 anyway. We finished at 10:52," Payne said.

Even with the problems, the majority of the crowd seemed unfazed as the headliners, Porter Robinson and Zedd, took the stage.

It was a rare opportunity for fans to see both of the performers on stage together, and the whole crowd seemed to enjoy it.

The Monongalia Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the arrests during the event.