As the winter winds calm and the season comes to a close, spring makes its first appearance, and the Coachella buzz returns. Many people will soon see the Coachella vlogs, outfits and set lists, encouraging them to go and see what it’s like for themselves.
As spring break takes off, starting March 28th and ending April 5th, Coachella begins in full swing. Coachella, the annual six-day festival that spans two weekends in Southern California, is more popular than ever as the music industry continues to grow. Coachella typically has seven to nine main stages and three main headliners. This year’s headliners are Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G. In addition to the headliners, the festival will feature other hit artists like Laufey, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Central Cee and many more. At Coachella, attendees can go back and forth between stages, depending on who they want to see.
With well over 100 top artists each year, teens feel a strong desire to attend this fun-filled bash. However, due to the event’s popularity and the number of attendees, parents are hesitant to let their kids go.
While there are always going to be safety hazards with high-population festivals, the common dangers have easy fixes. The most common crimes at Coachella are theft, drug possession and false identification, according to the Palm Springs Law Office. While the most common crimes do not affect the safety of other attendees, theft can be avoided by keeping belongings on your person.
Furthermore, there is still a big fear of safety due to other aspects that are not illegal, like environmental (extreme heat), and crowd-related risks. Since Coachella is in Southern California, the average temperature is 80 to 95 degrees fahrenheit. Because of this, it is common for people to become dehydrated at festivals like this, especially for people who travel from cooler climates, so it’s very important to drink lots of water and apply sunscreen frequently.
In terms of crowd risks, this issue can be resolved by being aware of your surroundings. The fear of crowd crushing has increased significantly since an incident at Astroworld, a Travis Scott concert in 2021. At this event, the crowd became so dense that some people couldn’t breathe or move, which resulted in 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries. If you start to notice that a crowd is getting cramped, quickly leave the area, as Coachella is a much larger venue than a typical concert.
While there are many reasons why people assume festivals and events like Coachella are unsafe, they are completely safe for teens to attend if they follow precautionary rules. There will always be small risks at high-populated events, but that shouldn’t stop teens from gaining new experiences.
