As we clear participants from the property and make progress against our event strike, we want to urgently clarify more details on what happened and how the decision to close the event transpired.
To our knowledge, no one was dosed or harmed physically at the event, and there were zero medical transports from the site during the event.
A series of events began on Thursday afternoon when two participants approached a department tent saying they had been gifted a substance which they tested positive for fentanyl. A volunteer notified our Incident Command System (ICS), which in turn alerted the County emergency coordinator. Apogaea never had custody of the substance and did not test it.
When first brought to the attention of Rangers and Medical, it was miscommunicated as a potentially bigger issue, possibly a multi-casualty incident involving an entire theme camp. This safety heads-up wasn’t accurate but resulted in our teams being on heightened alert.
Early next morning (Friday), a participant noticed an undissolved gelcap in their clear water bottle. This tested positive for fentanyl via two strip tests. Because the bottle had been on volunteer premises, there was immediate concern somebody might be targeting our volunteers. Apogaea tested the gelcap again with multiple reagent tests which resulted in confirming the presence of multiple substances.
Field test methodologies are not 100% accurate and they can result in false positives. With the presence of the gelcap reagent tests and the multiple positive fentanyl results, our teams had a high confidence that this was a situation of non-consensual drugging.
As a precaution, community water in the nearby Center Camp Café and Ranger Station was dumped. Our Board of Directors had a narrow timeframe to update the County, per agreement resulting from the previous day’s incident. Discussion between the Sheriff’s department and our team resolved to close the event. We made the decision as best we could with information available to us within the limited timeframe.
This escalated into an activation of Emergency Response via our ICS at approximately 3:45 PM on Friday, which ended at 5:00 this afternoon.
The decision to close the event was not easy, especially with the multitude of complicating factors. We learned some lessons and we will improve how we address different emergency scenarios in the future and cooperative decision-making with local law enforcement. Ultimately the safety of our participants in paramount, and we would rather err on the side of safety instead of risk tragedy. Please be vigilant for this threat.
Some might have noticed law enforcement presence on the property Friday night. This was unrelated to any health or medical concerns and in response to Apogaea’s request to assist us with a trespasser.
We regret this difficult decision and outcome. We recognize how disappointing this is for everyone who contributes their effort and heart to Apogaea, including our artists, theme camps, performers, volunteers and organizers, plus any intrepid souls who travelled a great distance to the event.
We will share more updates as soon as is practical. Our teams are still focused on striking the event.
Thanks again for your cooperation in efficiently exiting the event and we hope your exodus was safe and smooth. Our sadness is partially offset by our gratitude those who exhibited a positive mental attitude and endeavored to make the most out of this unfortunate situation. We are known for our ability to overcome challenges, and we hope your spirit for celebrating Apogaea remains with us.