For those who don’t know, Fyre Festival was the idea of Billy McFarland and Ja Rule. It was supposed to be THE biggest and MOST AMAZING music festival in history! Instead, it was an onslaught of cancelled musical acts, a complete breakdown in organization from the top down and a horrifying nightmare for the guests. Each guest paid a lot of money to be stranded on a Caribbean island where there was nothing that was advertised. No glamping tents, no food, no music, nothing.
There are a couple really good documentaries on the horrors they went through. One is on Netflix and the other is on Hulu. I’ve watched both and either are very good.
Well, the running world has its own upcoming festival that, on the outside, looks like the same kind of deal. Me, being extremely skeptical when it comes to things that look too good; I’m sure you can finish the rest of that.
It’s called Runningman Festival and it’s taking place in October in Georgia. The feestival lasts 3 days and advertises to have 5K/10K/13.1/26/250K races, as well as live music, the world’s largest sauna, cold immersion, camping, yoga, “incredible speakers”, food trucks and DJs!
Camping is allowed, and yes, you can bring your own camping gear. They also offer glamping. They do not suggest staying offsite though, so those are your only two choices.
The prices are 3-day price $765!!! Wow, and that does NOT include food and drink. If you want a glamping spot, you have to pay the VIP package $1645!!! It’s more if you want a tent all to yourself. That does include 6 meal tickets and 6 drinks tickets.
For those prices, you can travel to an out of town race that you know is going to happen, stay at a nice hotel, get a medal and a t-shirt and see some sites and not be confined to a small area where you’re forced to do yoga and other activities you may not want to do.
I might be wrong, this may work. There is a small percentage of folks who love this kind of thing, but most people like a little freedom and like to choose what they wish to do. Heck, I used to go to European metalfests every year and we could go in and out of the festival every day. They also weren’t THIS expensive!
I’m not going to include the link to this festival, but I’m sure you can look it up.
The biggest problem I have for this festival is that the promoters seemingly have no prior experience. I would feel better about it if I could see past races or events they’ve put on. But nope, this is a first. So, just a word of caution: if you are planning on spending your hard-earned money, note this is their first event and they may not know what they’re doing.