SAN ANTONIO - The founder of the Barbacoa and Big Red festival is addressing rumors and complaints.
- Complaints about lack of water, Big Red, and long lines
- Had double the attendance of last year
- Event organizer says 600 weapons confiscated
This year more than 30,000 people attended the festival. That's double last year's attendance.
Event founder DJTONYC says while they never ran out of water and Big Red, it was tricky to get through the crowds to replenish the inventory, and he's already working on a plan to fix that for next year.
Next year he's also going to quadruple the amount of entrances to cut down on wait time.
With so many people this year he says he had two choices: either let as many people in as possible quickly or keep safety a top priority. He chose safety, and while certain weapons aren't illegal, they are prohibited when it comes to bringing them into a place where alcohol is served.
They confiscated more than 600 knives, stun guns, and other weapons in one day.
"Fast forward to the end of the night, if you want to know how many arrests we had, how many altercations, how many intoxicated people that we had to arrest and kick out, the answer was zero. So I mean to me that's successful," said DJTONYC.
Along with double the amount of people, this year's festival also had double the vendors and stages. Parking was free and there was easy access for VIA bus riders.