Campers shamed for disgusting mess left after Pemberton festival

Outrage over mess left at Pemberton Music Fest Criticism is growing after music lovers left a pristine area looking like a landfill.

It happens every year like clockwork. Another music festival in beautiful British Columbia, another massive mess left behind by partiers.

The four-day Pemberton Music Festival wrapped up on Sunday, and as attendees cleared out of the campgrounds the next morning, many were shocked by what they saw being ditched on the grass.

“I woke up in the morning, I unzipped my tent and the first thing I see is a landfill,” said Brandon Cruz Bebe, a Vancouver musician.

Bebe snapped a picture of the trash-covered campground and shared it on Facebook, calling out his fellow festival-goers for their lack of respect for nature. Abandoned bottles, cans, towels and even camping equipment can be seen littering the field.

The post clearly touched a nerve, and within days had been shared more than 3,700 times.

“People just grabbed their main belongings and left, just left everything there,” Bebe said. “Have some respect! But I saw no respect. I heard ‘People are paid to clean this up.’”

But that’s only partly true. Festival organizers told CTV News while there are 120 paid staff tasked with the intensive multi-day cleanup effort, they also rely on some 300 volunteers.

Campground ambassadors passed out 20,000 trash bags over the course of the festival as well, and some campers were more responsible than others. Many posted pictures of spick-and-span campsites on social media with the hashtag #pembysoclean in the hopes of winning tickets to next year’s event.

But Bebe said he’s seen enough – while this year’s festival was a good time, it will still be his last.

“I wouldn’t go back. Yeah, no,” he said.

There's another silver lining to the mess. Organizers said potentially thousands of dollars in merchandise was ditched at the grounds, including expensive camera equipment, cellphones, tents and sleeping bags, and they will be giving locals  a chance to take home anything salvageable starting Wednesday.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Sarah MacDonald