Boomtown (music festival)

Boomtown Fair was first created by Christopher Rutherford and Lak Mitchell in 2009 after having grown up in the festival scene.[9] [1] Their experience with music festivals led them to believe that the events they were attending lacked atmosphere, and that many genres were being overlooked, which became a goal for the pair.[10] The first chapter, Boomtown Begins, took place in 2009 and was held at the Speech House Hotel, Coleford, in Gloucestershire on the 7th of August. The second event saw the festival move to the Stowe Landscape Gardens in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire and for the third event, the festival was relocated to the Matterley Estate in Winchester, where the festival has remained since.

The seventh chapter, in 2015, saw the introduction of Psychedelic Forest, the first psychedelic trance stage.[11] The 2016 fair saw further expansion with Sector 6, introduced as a way to even the spread of bass-heavy music across the site, and Whistler's Green green fields area over the top of the hill between the Lion's Den and Downtown areas, mostly secluded from the rest of the site.[1]

The tenth chapter, in 2018, brought the new districts Disorder Alley, Paradise Heights (in place of Mayfair), and Copper County (in place of the Wild West). The same year, festival organisers hoped to increase the capacity of the festival to 80,000, but the application was rejected. Instead they were allowed to open a day early, but only if attendees arrived using 'sustainable transport', in coaches, shuttle bus or cars with more than three people.[12]

Hippie Highway, a central route through the site, at night in 2019

Cigarette butt ballot bins at Paradise Heights in 2019

In August 2019, Boomtown were granted licencing approval to open a 3,500 capacity event space at their Bristol headquarters, which opened in November as Area 404.[13] The year's fair installment, chapter eleven, introduced the new Area 404 district in place of Sector 6 providing the festivals home for techno and acid house music. The event was focused around the "Leave No Trace" mantra. Encouraging attendees to take all their rubbish and tents with them as they leave, and also banning single-use plastics from all of the on-side stalls. As a result of this push, the festival saw a 50% reduction in tents and equipment left behind in 2019.[14] The festival introduced cigarette butt ballot bins as apart of this initiative in an effort to encourage responsible disposal of cigarette butts. Built by TerraCycle, attendees can vote on opinion polls by putting their butt in one of two slots, where their waste will later be recycled into furniture.[15]

Chapter twelve was to see the introduction of a new district Forgotten Valley as a replacement for Whistler's Green. The new district was to encapsulate the Kidztown and Floating Lotus stages, but see the replacement of The Lighthouse stage with a new area known as Ancient Futures.[16] On April 30, 2020, Chapter 12 was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

The prospecting geologist Nickolas Boom, having discovered a gold-bearing vein in the hills, founds the town with settlements of his crew of miners. Word of this discovery spread throughout the region, and soon other prospectors began wanting a piece, marking the beginning of an eternal power struggle for dominance over the vein. Boom tried to bring order to the town but lawless rebels only drove further chaos.[17]

In an effort to restore order, local officials succeeded in driving away the rebels. The towns annual fair was set up to unify the community. The fair attracted musicians and entertainers from far and wide. Farmers and merchants from neighbouring villages came to the town, selling their produce and goods. The fair was a success and the people were uplifted. Only that same week, the gold ran out. Once more, violence set in and the streets descended into anarchy.[18]

Recession struck the town, and looting and fighting were commonplace.[19] The Kaptin began an attempt to contain this anarchy. Boom was outraged at this interference, and with the Pirate Captain and Gypsy King, swore to keep The Kaptin from making progress and ruining their freedoms.[20]

With new settlers, the town expanded into new districts and brought new attractions. Only the wealthy lacked any areas of prestige, and so the town officials budgeted a huge amount of money from their urban redevelopment fund towards such an area - Mayfair Avenue. Having had enough, Boom returned to the mountains in search of a fabled temple in the forest, with treasure guarded by lions. With this wealth, he would buy the land of town and restore the peace and freedom, without the rules of a state. Boom was never seen again.[21]

Arcadia stage at Boomtown 2012

With further expansion, the town became a city and with this progress came taxes and troubles. With a comet-like crash, an unearthly structure arrived. Arcadia had landed and The Kaptain declared a stage of emergency in the town, declaring himself Mayor.[22]

The docks of Oldtown were revitalised as a wave of trade and immigration hit the port. Travellers from the far east formed a vibrant oriental quarter known as ChinaTown, and those from Latin America founded the Latin Quarter. After pressure from citizens, The Mayor announced free elections with district councillors being appointed, and the following year even the mayoral office would be subject to vote.[23]

From the elections of the year prior, Comrade José became mayor. She introduced the citizenship test, and began on her plans to unite the districts. Defeated and regretful, the ex-mayor turned to the aliens of Arcadia for help, who agreed to send him back in time to the inception of the town. He set off to the west, and reached an isolated town. The ex-mayor told Sheriff Bane of the town about the newly constructed mines and the grand city Boomtown would become. Initiallly skeptical, the Sheriff agreed that if this did come true, that the ex-mayor could call on their aid when he found himself in trouble.

After this agreement, the ex-mayor found himself back in present-day, surrounded by a district that previously hadn't existed - Wild West Street. He once again met Bane who was ready to stick to the promise he had made, and handed over his Sheriff badge making the ex-mayor the new Sheriff of the Wild West.[24]