What went wrong at High Water Festival 2024

NORTH CHARLESTON — One of the most anticipated music festivals of 2024 is receiving some negative feedback after attendees experienced hourslong exit issues, a lack of liquor in the Platinum Lounge and even property thefts.

The High Water Festival is curated by Charleston-born indie duo Shovels & Rope. It’s a collective celebration of folk, rock and alternative music, drawing tens of thousands of people each year.

The festival, in its sixth year at Riverfront Park, a picturesque location that overlooks the Cooper River, was held April 20-21 — days that saw weather range from 90 degrees and sunny to a windy 60 degrees and rainy. But it wasn't the weather that put a damper on the fun for some.

“I was so excited to be there, and it ended up being the worst festival experience of my life,” said Mattie Deaton, a first-time High Water attendee who traveled 11 hours from Kentucky.

“We booked a hotel about 15 minutes or so from the festival site, and it took us over 3½ hours to get to our hotel,” Deaton told The Post and Courier.

But the feedback hasn't been all bad. Even with the snafus, some festivalgoers said the logistics of the music performances were spot on.

“We're already planning to come back next year,” said Sophia Beratta, who drove seven hours from Virginia to attend High Water.

“The music was incredible,” she said. “All the sets were on time. Everything went off without a hitch. With the parking situation, we didn't even really (have a bad) experience. We just took a nap in the parking lot when it was at a standstill and waited for everybody to move, and then we just boogied out of there.”

The festival’s response to Day 1 traffic issues made for a smoother Day 2, Beratta said.

“The positive note here is that High Water saw there was a problem, saw that it was dangerous, saw that it wasn't OK, and they turned around in 12 hours and fixed it and made it better for Sunday," Beratta said.

The High Water Festival's management company, C3 Entertainment, didn't respond to The Post and Courier's multiple attempts for comment. Shovels & Rope's media relations firm All Eyes Media directed The Post and Courier back to C3 Entertainment when asked for comment.

Property theft

Some attendees who rented lockers, which can be booked on-site or included in upper-tier ticket prices, had the misfortune of having their belongings stolen from the locker tent operated by Entertainment Lockers.

While the North Charleston Police Department told The Post and Courier there were no reports of theft at High Water, festivalgoer Allie Sakert said she experienced a break-in at the lockers she and her friends rented. Upon purchase, codes are administered to access them. She and her group of friends made a point to check that their lockers were secured before leaving the tent.

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“After the Hozier set, we went back to get our things and found some of our stuff laying on the ground in front of the lockers,” Sakert said. An employee told her he noticed the locker was open and he closed it, but Sakert said he seemed to place blame on her group for not properly locking the locker.

Nobody in their group filed a report because there was no video footage, she said. This was her second year attending the festival, and she hopes the issues were just growing pains.

“Overall, the performers of High Water were absolutely amazing, but the management of the festival left a lot to be desired," she said. 

She said numerous people were permitted to huddle under the locker tent while it was raining, which could have contributed to the thievery. She suggested better monitoring of entry to the locker area, such as proof of purchase.

Liquor

In addition to the traffic and locker thefts, a liquor licensing issue created some turmoil for platinum guests, who paid upwards of $1,650 a ticket.

According to a representative at the Department of Revenue, the High Water Festival only applied for and was issued one liquor special event permit.

"By law, event organizers must obtain a separate permit for each location where they will sell alcoholic beverages," the office shared with The Post and Courier. "So they are able to sell liquor by the drink as permitted by the law only at the permitted location."

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Because of this, platinum guests did not have access to liquor in their upgraded lounge area. The festival addressed this by loading drink credits onto these guests' wristbands and creating a faster line at the only on-site liquor bar for platinum ticketholders.

"We appreciate your flexibility as we continue to work to be compliant with the State of South Carolina and new regulations imposed on High Water festival this week," an email to platinum guests from High Water Festival sent out a day before the festival stated.

Exit issues

While Deaton praised the music lineup and the abundance of shade available on the festival grounds on a particularly scorching hot spring day, her experience leaving the festival was so jarring for her that it affected her overall experience negatively.

“There was no directing of traffic — it was all on us as attendees to figure out what, how and where to go,” Deaton said. “As you can imagine, that failed drastically when everyone is focused on being the first ones home.”

As a result, she said, festivalgoers were stranded with no cell service and no way of calling for rideshare assistance.

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“People were walking miles on unlit … back roads and abandoning cars, as we all thought it was going to be our only option for freedom,” Deaton said.

“I never once saw a shuttle entering or leaving the festival,” she added. “People on crutches and in wheelchairs (traversing) the mile-and-a-half to the parking lot is unacceptable.”

Riverfront Park is typically accessible from two roads: N. Hobson Avenue, which runs through the old Navy Base, and Noisette Boulevard, which connects to Park Circle. McMillan Avenue is one of the main thoroughfares connecting with these pathways. With construction this year, multiple lanes were blocked and detours closed off, making it a lot harder to navigate.

The city of North Charleston issued a statement to The Post and Courier acknowledging traffic congestion due to the construction blocking road access to Riverfront Park this year.

"Although we developed strategies to manage the closure of McMillan Avenue — the primary access route to Riverfront Park — due to the construction of a new overpass, it is clear that our plans did not sufficiently mitigate the impact,” said Tony Tassarotti, communications coordinator for the city.

“We have spoken with High Water’s promoters to let them know, and we want our citizens to know, that we are committed to continuously refining these strategies to ensure that every visit to Riverfront Park is a positive experience," he said.

After Day 1, High Water posted a comment on its Facebook page stating: “We want to acknowledge that the parking, traffic and rideshare operation at the end of last night was not acceptable. We are working with the City of North Charleston and public safety officials to make corrections to address those issues and ensure a much better experience this evening.”

With rainstorms and windy weather on the second day, more festivalgoers left earlier in the afternoon, so the parking operation did not have as high of a volume of people entering and exiting together.

“There was a bigger police presence (on the second night) to guide traffic,” said festival photographer Clif Rhodes. “I was guided out a different direction than Night 1 and had to take a back road to (Interstate 26). Traffic seemed to flow much smoother than the first night.”

When it comes to improving next year’s experience, Deaton suggested better route planning for rideshare options, the use of lights to guide festivalgoers and shuttles. She also said it wouldn’t hurt to put bathrooms near parking lots, and of course, “a traffic plan that is supportive of the amount of people headliners like Noah Kahan and Hozier would bring in.”