By all accounts, Texas’ new medieval/Renaissance fair themed electronic music festival, Middlelands, was a resounding success with more than 60,000 attendees over the weekend and glowing reviews from participants and artists.
However, the Texas Renaissance Festival, who runs the grounds in Todd Mission, TX that the festival took place on, has opted not to host Middlelands next year.
While the reason was not initially given, the reason is likely because the 109 residents of this small town were not pleased with the new spring visitors and voiced their concerns to the town council.
An influence on the town’s unhappiness might have stemmed from the 38 arrests made at the festival. While 38 people out of 60,000 may not seem like a lot, those people and other troublemakers might have had an outsize impact on residents’ perceptions of the event. 38 is a bit high for an event of Middlelands’ size, enough so that it attracted the attention of the Houston Chronicle, an article which you should check out because it is hilarious. Here’s a sample:
Nevertheless, it is dismaying that Middlelands is being forced from its home after only one year. Pasquale Rotella, Founder and CEO of Insomniac, which produced Middlelands, promised that the now popular festival will return. Hopefully, the festival will continue and continue with the same whimsical theme somewhere else in the Houston area.
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