{"id":181870,"date":"2025-10-06T15:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/181870\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:27:10","slug":"peaceful-nighttime-lantern-festival-that-charges-1000-for-tickets-descends-into-chaos-thanks-to-technical-blunders-and-desert-dust-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/181870\/","title":{"rendered":"Peaceful nighttime lantern festival that charges $1,000 for tickets descends into chaos thanks to technical blunders and desert dust storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furious festivalgoers slammed organizers for ‘ridiculous’ mismanagement at an annual scenic nighttime latern event that descended into chaos amid heavy dust storms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The RISE Festival in the Las Vegas<\/a> desert is usually known for its music shows and a picturesque lantern experience where thousands of lamps fill the night sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the signature ceremony was cancelled at this year’s event on Friday night as a dust storm blew through the area, and frustrated attendees said the cancellation was not the only shortcoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Revelers said they endured hours-long delays to enter the grounds, failing shuttle buses to the event, and a lack of food vendors for the thousands in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tickets to the event start around $240, with premium packages running close to $1000 for VIP amenities and specials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Music acts billed to the three-day event included DJ Rufus Du Sol for the Friday evening, followed by Calvin Harris<\/a> and John Mayer the following two nights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disgruntled attendees said they ‘felt trapped’ in the Mojave Desert because of the organization, as Lincoln Marks, who drove from California, told 8NewsNow the cancelled lantern show was ‘a huge part of us being here.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘People weren\u2019t taking the shuttles, they just got out,’ he said. ‘They\u00a0were trying to walk like three miles, and it was crazy.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Furious <\/p>\n

Furious festivalgoers slammed organizers for ‘ridiculous’ mismanagement at the\u00a0RISE Festival in the Las Vegas desert over the weekend<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The signature ceremony was cancelled at this year’s event on Friday night as a dust storm blew through the area, and frustrated attendees said\u00a0they endured hours-long delays to enter the grounds, failing shuttle buses to the event, and a lack of food vendors<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The festival is usually known for its music shows and a picturesque lantern experience where thousands of lamps fill the night sky<\/p>\n

Some visitors said they were further upset at organizers because they were not given refunds to the event, despite missing out on the signature lamp show over the desert skies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attendee Rosario Patricia Melocoton took to the RISE Festival 2025 Facebook group to vent over her experience, saying she was ‘just so disappointed this year.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘My friends and I have gone every year since 2016 and we look forward to it every year. This has always been such a meaningful cleansing experience with everyone that\u2019s there,’ she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘This year was such a let down\u2026it\u2019s like the organizers have forgotten what the Rise festival is all about.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Melocoton said she and her friends paid extra for diamond and platinum passes, but said there was ‘no food as promised’ to them, alongside ‘ridiculous’ long lines for regular food options ‘because they didn\u2019t not provide enough food vendors.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said while she understood that the organizers could not control the weather after dust storms halted the Friday night festivities, she said organizers hadn’t put out cushions like they had in other years, ‘so we had to stand the whole time.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘We tried to buy merchandise, stood in line for 2 hours and they didn\u2019t even have sizes available\u2026.on the first night after having just opened the gates!’ she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I truly truly hope the organizers rethink this festival\u2026.bring it back to what it was.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Visitor <\/p>\n

Visitor Tonya Jo Salazar shared pictures to social media of her and her partner covered in protective skiing sunglasses, hoods and thick clothes, and wrote that the ‘heavy winds affected the experience and the gates opened 4 hours late’<\/p>\n

\"Attendees <\/p>\n

Attendees said shuttle buses failed and left many stranded in the Mojave Desert, and some reportedly walked for miles to leave\u00a0<\/p>\n

Footage of the dust storm showed huge wind gusts sending sand across the festival grounds, with many revelers trying to find shelter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Visitor Tonya Jo Salazar shared pictures to social media of her and her partner covered in protective skiing sunglasses, hoods and thick clothes, and wrote that the ‘heavy winds affected the experience and the gates opened 4 hours late.’\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another attendee, Ruth Huston, wrote on the group’s page that she and her husband drove down from Seattle for the festival, but were left ‘super sad.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

RISE Festival’s ticket policy states that ‘all sales are final’, and organizers have not shared any plans for refunds. The event did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marks said that he is hopeful that ‘we\u2019ll get some kind of payment because people are pretty frustrated, like ran out of food.’<\/p>\n

‘People were in cars for three hours, really needed food and nothing. So hopefully, they\u2019ll do some sort of refund,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Furious festivalgoers slammed organizers for ‘ridiculous’ mismanagement at an annual scenic nighttime latern event that descended into chaos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[776,25029,97,1397,3302,50,90,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-181870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-calvin-harris","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-las-vegas","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}