Riot Fest

When the Park Fills Up, Access Changes

For three days, Riot Fest turns part of Douglass Park into a large-scale festival site filled with stages, vendors, attractions, production equipment and music fans. Restrooms need to be where guests need them, but placement is only part of the equation. Crews also need a way to reach that equipment after the festival is built around it.

Get a Quote for Your Festival

THE CHALLENGE

The Route You Use Today May Not Be There Tomorrow

Riot Fest doesn’t arrive at Douglass Park overnight. The festival footprint stretches from Ogden Avenue south to 19th Street and from California Avenue west to Sacramento Boulevard. As that work progresses, open park space becomes an active festival site. That creates a practical sanitation challenge. Equipment has to be positioned for the people who will use it while also accounting for how crews will reach those locations when it’s time for service.

Get a Quote for Your Festival

ACCESS IN MOTION

Routes available during early load-in can change as stages, fencing, vendors and other event infrastructure move into place.

CROWDS VS. TRUCKS

The main entrance near Ogden and Sacramento creates a major pedestrian zone, while other surrounding streets support transit, rideshare and event traffic.

PROTECTED ROUTES

Traffic plans around Douglass Park account for nearby hospitals and emergency access, adding another consideration when planning truck movement around the festival perimeter.

PARK CONDITIONS

Restroom locations inside a public park have to balance guest convenience, service access, pedestrian movement and the condition of the grounds.

THE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

DAYS

DELIVERY WINDOW

250

TOILETS + SINKS

DEPLOYED

TRUCKLOADS

OF EQUIPMENT

TEAM MEMBERS

ON SITE

@servicesanitation Apparently, what happens at Riot Fest ends up in a porta potty. 🙈 🚽 🖖 @Riot Fest #RiotFest #FestivalLife #BathroomDuty #BehindTheScenes #ServiceSanitation ♬ What's This? - Danny Elfman

OUR APPROACH

PLAN FOR THE RETURN

A bank of restrooms may look perfect on a festival map. But if fencing, a vendor compound or another piece of event infrastructure eventually blocks the service route, that location can create an operational problem later. Thinking about service access during planning helps prevent organizers from having to solve those problems once the event is already underway.

WORK AROUND THE STREETS

The main festival entrance is near Ogden Avenue and Sacramento Boulevard, making that area an important pedestrian zone during show days. For sanitation operations, that means the closest route isn’t automatically the best route. Delivery and service movements have to fit into the larger traffic, security and event plan.

RESET BEFORE THEY RETURN

Instead of treating the entire event as one crowd, sanitation planning considers how guests use different parts of the festival. Restrooms and handwashing stations can then be positioned around those patterns while keeping visibility, pedestrian flow and service access in mind.

THE END RESULTS

Build Sanitation Into the Festival Plan

At a multi-day festival, success isn’t measured when the last restroom comes off the delivery truck. After a full day of festival use, restrooms and handwashing stations need to be clean, stocked and ready to do it again. Service routes still have to work. Busy locations need attention. Trucks have to move through the site without getting in the way of the people running it. That’s where planning ahead pays off.

PLACED FOR PEOPLE AND CREWS

Locations planned with attendee convenience, pedestrian flow and future service access in mind.

FEWER LAST-MINUTE PROBLEMS

Planning access before the site fills in gives organizers fewer sanitation decisions to make once the festival is underway.

RIGHT EQUIPMENT

Equipment quantities planned around the size, duration and needs of the event.