WonderRoad festival in Indianapolis has plan for severe weather, organizers say
The WonderRoad music festival at Garfield Park will go forward this weekend, rain or shine, but the outdoor event will see delays and possible lineup changes should Indianapolis be hit with severe wind or lightning, organizers said Saturday afternoon.
Denny Young, president of WonderRoad organizer Elevation Festivals, told IndyStar the event has a tested evacuation plan.
Young said the festival has contracted with a weather service in Oklahoma to monitor Garfield Park, and he is receiving hourly updates.
"Right now, we've heard spotty rain and possible thunderstorms, but it's very isolated," Young said. "And all after 5 p.m."
Acts have already begun performing, with music scheduled to continue until the close of headliner Vampire Weekend's set at 10 p.m.
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"We will proceed, rain or shine and even in heavy rain," he continued. "But if I get notification of high winds or lightning, we would clear the site until we could reopen."
Young explained his team faced a similar issue in Pittsburgh, where it hosted the Maple House Music & Arts Festival last month. It evacuated the festival grounds for an hour. One artist was not able to perform, and the two headlining acts had to play shortened sets.
"Our intention is to have as many of the artists perform as possible with a focus on the top artists," Young said.
The festival is expected to be at or near its 10,000 attendee per day capacity on Saturday and Sunday.
Jason Puma, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, said as of 2:15 p.m. Saturday there was about a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms in the Indianapolis area, most likely after 7 p.m.
Sunday's forecast also calls for a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms, shrinking to 30% in the evening.
"The rain in the next 36 hours is not going to be a steady, solid rain," he explained. "There will be many dry hours."
"There's always a chance of lightning during a thunderstorm," Puma said. "We always tell people if you're outdoors and you can hear thunder, you're close enough to be struck and should find shelter."
No severe weather alerts had been issued as of 2:15 p.m. Saturday.
"I can’t rule out a severe storm here or there, but it doesn’t look like any sort of widespread severe event or anything like that," Puma said.
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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryDoesPhonics.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WonderRoad Indianapolis festival has plan for possible bad weather
