Music

Local residents are trying to prevent WayHome from happening

by Mark Teo

While there’s been mostly positive chatter about WayHome, the Bonnaroo-affiliated camping event landing in Ontario this summer, not everyone is pleased with the arrival of the massive festival. It’s  expected to bring upwards of 70,000 people—with space for 45,000 campers—to the Burl’s Creek grounds, located in Oro-Medonte, ON, and some locals are already taking issue with WayHome’s arrival.

A notice has been circulating around the rural 20,000-person Simcoe County township with a clear message: Burl’s Creek is threatening the region’s rural lifestyle. And the notice doesn’t mince words: It concludes with “This will ruin our community… Let’s keep Oro-Medonte as a beautiful, quiet and rural place for everyone to live!!!”

Here’s an image of the notice, via Tiana Feng.

Of course, the Oro-Medone community’s issues don’t extend simply to WayHome—they’re also concerned with the volume of people that Burl’s Creek will bring with other large-scale events, like the country-oriented Boots and Hearts Festival.

But the issues they raise are good ones: More than 70,000 people may flood into their county, and traffic will have to be redirected through many adjacent areas, which include tiny communities like Warminster, Martinville and Baywood Park. As Simcoe County is cottage country, there’s concerns over whether they have the infrastructure to accommodate heavy traffic. Further, the notice expects late-night noise and drunken revelry to arrive with Burl’s Creek festivals.

This isn’t, of course, new to the community: The area once hosted Molson Park, which hosted large-scale events like the Vans Warped Tour and Edgefest. But the notice also addresses that issue: Molson Park only had a 35,000 capacity; Burl’s Creek has double that capacity.

Burl’s Creek, as reported by the Orillia Packet, was recently purchased by Stan Dunford, the chair and CEO of Contrans Group Inc. It was previously owned by Don Hanney, who has since retired. Its new ownership seemed to move quickly, partnering with Republic Live to bring larger-scale music events to the grounds.

Oro-Medonte’s council, says the notice, has passed a temporary by-law allowing for Burl Creek’s expansion—which allowed them to invite large-scale events on the grounds. The note continues that in order to turn Burl’s Creek into a suitable venue, they “must first apply to be able to receive approval to permanently rezone their property to continue operations.”

The notice, it seems, is attempting to prevent the rezoning of the Burl’s Creek ground to protect “our beautiful rural township from these attacks.”

The same activist group also launched saveoro.com, and are meeting next week to inform the community about the forthcoming changes to the grounds. Their site posted a map of the regions in Oro-Medonte that will be effected, and are encouraging citizens to contact local councillors.

Here’s the map they posted, indicating that Burl’s Creek was originally zoned on a much smaller parcel of land.

Of course, a sprawling rural setting is required for a camping-based festival like WayHome. The Oro-Medone community should potentially take lessons from Manchester, Tennessee, the 10,000-person town that hosts Bonnaroo each year.

In the meantime, check out a flyover of Burl’s Creek below to get an idea of the sheer size of WayHome.