Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park revealed its festival map ahead of its sixth-annual showing, and it featured something new: a ‘no blanket or towel zone’ on the Surf Stage.
One of the biggest issues for the festival in 2023 other than Sunday’s sound issues and attendees feeling overcrowded was the fact that many patrons sat on towels and blankets late into the day close to the stage.
Though this might not seem like an issue, when the beach starts to fill up and people make their way up to the front, many are forced to step on fans’ towels, which in many cases are too large.
After many, many complains, the festival responded with something that fans have been very supportive of: the new ‘no blanket or towel zone.’ The area, which can be seen on the map above, features an area of about 25% of the beach that will not permit blankets and towels.
While some comments on Facebook were negative, saying things like, “Remember when festivals were fun?” and ‘This can’t be serious,” the majority of comments were welcoming and supportive.
One user on Facebook responded to the original post, “Good. It’s been such a wreck in past years when people were trying to stake out 8 sq. ft. for two people and hold it during the headliners.”
On Reddit, where the demographic tends to be younger, the reaction was also supportive on this post by a user.
The top-liked response read, “This an improvement for sure. Bye bye blanket Boomers. No saving your spots anymore. If folks on Sunday want to try to get as close to Bruce, they will be standing or sitting in the sand for 8 hours.” A user responded with, “As a young fan priced out of GA for his normal shows, I fully welcome this.”
However, even with the positive response, many fans are still curious on how the festival will enforce this new policy. A user on Reddit said, “Wondering how they will enforce this. Never seems to be any paid staff around.”
Sea.Hear.Now Festival and C3 Presents did not immediately respond for comment.
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