LTCC grooves to the beat of 3-day outdoor music festival

By Kathryn Reed

One day SnowGlobe might legitimately be used in the same sentence of Woodstock or Day on the Green. More than 9,000 people – mostly younger than 30 – swayed, danced, bounced and moved to the sounds of bands like their parents’ and grandparents’ generations did decades ago.

Only this music isn’t rock ’n’ roll. It’s techno. It’s hip-hop. It’s crunk. It’s a whole lot of drum machine and bass. Sometimes a band isn’t even on stage – it’s a disc jockey putting the sounds together in a mix that becomes original music. They are artists in their own right, not like the disc jockey putting someone else’s song on the radio.

It’s got a beat that makes everyone listening want to dance. It’s a party. It’s people having fun.

South Tahoe evolves

Kindred Murillo has a smile on her face as she surveys the crowd. She is used to this age group. After all, she is president of Lake Tahoe Community College; which is doubling as a concert venue for two more nights.

“It’s better than I expected,” she said looking at a line of people waiting to get in.

On the job less than six months, she is doing something no one in the history of the 30-plus-year-old college has done – turning the campus into a music venue. If everyone determines SnowGlobe was successful, Murillo envisions the college being more of a partner in the future.

She’s well aware of the publicity the event has already brought to the campus and hopes to be able to capitalize on it in the future.

The college is getting about $10,000 from the concert promoters for use of the site. The city will get about the same from the business license fee and reimbursement of hard costs like overtime for employees.

It’s a potential shot in the arm to local businesses, too – money in pockets of hotels, vacation rental owners, and other businesses that are smart enough to tap into the needs of this crowd. Like food when the festival is over. Souvenirs to take home. Warm clothes for these flatlanders.

It was South Lake Tahoe City Manager Tony O’Rourke who shook his head a year ago when he heard the city did nothing on New Year’s Eve except pay police officers overtime to help patrol the Stateline casino corridor. His idea was give those twenty-somethings something to do and get them to open their wallets.

They are here and they are spending money. Three-day tickets cost about $150, with Saturday-only being $75.

Vendor Village is a tented area where jewelry, hats, glasses, clothes, leather goods and organic food are being old. On the outskirts of the shopping area is SpiritHoods. They sell those animal hats with long ears, so to speak, that can be scarves of sorts. At the concert they sell for $100 — $35 less than online or at their Los Angeles headquarters.

A slew of women and men have this style of hat on. They seem to be everywhere.

SnowGlobe is giving people who might usually stand around in the cold at Stateline on New Year’s Eve something to do other than question why they are standing around in the cold. It will give people who can stay out past 9pm on New Year’s Eve a place to be on the South Shore – which includes a fireworks show.

It’s about putting South Lake Tahoe on the map as a place to be this time of year that doesn’t involve being in a casino.

It may even be good business for the three marijuana dispensaries in South Tahoe.

With the smell of pot wafting between the three stages on opening night of the three-day event and no line for Sierra Nevada brew, it was obvious the drug of choice for this crowd is weed.

The cops are ignoring them. After all, it’s just an infraction in California – like getting a speeding ticket.

But South Lake Tahoe police officers make their presence known at the get-go. And SnowGlobe officials alerted their followers that undercover cops would be on the grounds, too.

“Their security handles everything,” Sgt. Shannon Laney told Lake Tahoe News as he watched people funnel in. “They bring the problems to us.”

It’s all about the music

Dillon Francis – on the Sierra stage – is who Robert Bunnett, 19, was most excited to see Thursday.

He and 14 friends made it a road trip from Los Angeles for three days of music. They are staying – all of them – in a one-room cabin. Usually it’s the LA-San Bernardino music fests they follow. The lineup and the opportunity to be in Tahoe for New Year’s led them north.

Even though Sherose Renck, 17, and Serena Gafford, 16, didn’t have to drive far, the best friends from Gardnerville are staying in a hotel overnight on the South Shore – going to SnowGlobe all three days.

They are moving to the beat of Stephan Jacobs who is making techno music on the Igloo stage. This is the biggest music event either one has been to.

It’s the atmosphere that captivates Renck. “I love the energy,” she says.

With goggles on her forehead, Lorene Carlston of Santa Cruz waits to get in. She’s most excited to see Pretty Lights, one of the headliners on the SnowGlobe stage Dec. 29.

Frustrated with the people who work at the Horizon casino in Stateline for not knowing where the shuttle to LTCC was, this led her and a friend to a hitch a ride.

At 28 and her friend 31, she says, “We find it to be a young crowd.”

Despite their hiccup, most people were getting to LTCC via the 30 buses bringing them to and from LTCC for free.

Eran Afmer, 34, of Seattle is a bit disappointed with no fresh snow, especially considering she left powder in the Cascades. Still, she’s excited to be in Tahoe – a first for her – with friends from various states. They rented a huge house for the long weekend.

South Lake Tahoe local Anthony Davis put in six hours volunteering at the event Thursday.

“I did it so I can get a feel for the event and know what it’s all about before I judge it,” Davis said. “I’m liking it. I like the vibe.”

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)