Electric Forest Was Magical Until I Heard the News
Two days of kindness, music, and fun turned sour once I got home and learned that a dead baby had been found
Rothbury — The body of a newborn baby was found inside a portable bathroom at an Electric Forest music festival campground. The discovery was made Sunday morning, the final day of the festival.
Michigan State Police say the baby was no more than four weeks old and are looking for a mother connected to the case. Authorities have not disclosed any further details about the baby’s sex or cause of death at this time, and our hearts are heavy as we wait for answers about the horrendous ending to an otherwise vibrant weekend.
Electric Forest is a four-day EDM music festival that takes place every year in Rothbury, a small village about 30 miles north of Muskegon. EDM stands for electronic dance music, and the festival features a wide range of dubstep, house, bass, and techno artists.
This news is the first time many people have ever heard of Electric Forest, even if they've lived in Michigan their entire life. Well, I just spent two days there, and this is what it's like for someone who's never been.
This was my first year at Electric Forest—or any EDM concert, for that matter—and it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I’d been to a music festival before and knew all the stereotypes surrounding these types of concerts, but nothing could have prepared me for just how unique the experience would be.
The festival is held every summer at the Double JJ Resort, which spans over 400 acres in total, with the festival venue alone covering roughly 100 acres. There are six main stages, glowing art, vendors, games, interactive exhibits, and a billion other random activities stretched into every corner of the forest, making it feel like it goes on for miles as you wander and explore.
Nearly 60,000 people from around the country bought tickets to this year's festival, and over 100 artists played 167 sets across the four days. Highlights included a set from DJ Diesel—aka Shaquille O'Neal—going back-to-back with T-Pain for Saturday night's headliner. This festival is built for night owls, as performances go until 3 or 4 in the morning, with the most anticipated performers not taking the stage until after midnight.
But the music really is only part of it. The deeper you wander into the forest, the stranger it gets. Everywhere you look, there are glowing faces and hidden pathways. Trampolines and hammocks are strung up throughout the trees. We saw live painters, video game lounges, a silent disco, and multiple treehouses you can climb into and explore. The visuals at night are so immersive it was enough to make me, a completely sober person, feel like I was seeing things.
Like many festivals, camping is a huge part of Electric Forest. People get incredibly creative with their campsite setups, many featuring lights, decorations, inflatable couches, or mega beds. The campsites were so fun to see that walking through the grounds felt like an attraction of its own. There are community showers (though you can definitely smell who decided not to use them), and for anyone who’d rather not camp, there are shuttle options running to and from the festival.
What stood out to me during the weekend more than anything, though, was the people. Everyone was noticeably kinder there than any country or pop concert I'd ever been to. It's tradition to trade small trinkets and gifts with strangers as a way of meeting people, and that spirit seemed to carry into everything else. I saw multiple campsites with "take what you need" care-package stations set up. It's very apparent everyone really cares about one another and looks out for each other, that's part of what makes Sunday’s event so tragic and hard to grapple with.
I don't think I've ever been somewhere where people seemed so comfortable being their true authentic selves. Everyone wears what they want, dances however they please, and you can tell nobody is judging anyone in the slightest. Coachella is known for being a fashion show, but Electric Forest did not come to play. Some people seemed to just treat it like Halloween, cosplaying as their favorite movie character, song, album, or food, and some people wore as little clothing as possible. Basically, the dress code is whatever the hell you want.
This ended up being one of the best experiences of my life, even though I'll probably never do it again. While I'm probably just too young to understand dubstep, I still had a great time. Getting to see so many people completely in their element, surrounded by friends and expressing themselves however they wanted, was something I'll remember for a long time.
Unfortunately, any enlightenment from the weekend has been overtaken by Sunday's tragedy, and the focus now sits on the heartbreaking news as many wait for answers. Michigan State Police continue to investigate and are asking anyone who may have information relevant to the situation to please come forward.
