UPDATE: This article has been updated with an official statement from Pasquale Rotella at the bottom.
Middlelands took place at the Texas RenFest in Todd Mission, Texas this month. Besides somebody getting stuck in a tree, things more or less went off perfectly. There were no deaths, no major arrests and everyone seemed to have an incredible time.
Local Community Complaints Win out
Everyone who attended definitely had a wonderful time at least. The local community did not. One lady, Beverly Welch-Steadman, said when she found out the event was going to take place on Sunday after a busy Saturday she wanted to kill herself. Award for most dramatic response to traffic goes to that lady for sure. She was so torn up over weekend event traffic she went to suicide as an option. Unfortunately the negative voices of the community won out and the RenFair has been forced to not hold the event in 2018. There statement goes as follows:
“TRF is always looking for new ways to bring fun and magic to the Houston area, which is why we partnered with Insomniac, C3 Events and Live Nation, to create the Middlelands music festival on our grounds. Middlelands was a great success and brought over 60,000 people to the area from all over the country and the world. However, after a meeting with executive leadership and based on Texas Renaissance Festival’s overall mission, we’ve have made the decision to not move forward in hosting the event again.”
Initial reports include the grounds being trashed after the festival as well as noise complaints being the biggest issues. Middlelands did not drive a large amount of money to the local economy outside of the festival itself, therefore it was hard for the community to justify welcoming it back.
As of now no word has been announced on where the festival will relocate to in 2018. Since it was such a massive success, we have to imagine that it will still go on at another location. Stay tuned for details from EDM Sauce as we learn more.
From Pasquale Rotella:
“We were very surprised and disappointed by the decision announced by the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF) to no longer host Middlelands (MDL) at the Texas Renaissance Festival Fair Grounds. From the beginning, MDL producers set out to create a safe and enjoyable experience for both attendees and residents in the surrounding neighborhoods, with hopes to stimulate the growing local economy. Contrary to News reports, the producers of MDL traveled to Houston for the Town Hall meeting but were subsequently told it was cancelled by TRF officials. We fully appreciate the beauty of Todd Mission and the nearby areas, and were prepared to implement residents’ feedback in order to transform MDL into a valued community event. An astounding 66,000 guests attended the inaugural MDL festival, with many sharing their positive experiences. To our fans, rest assured we plan to return.”
