{"id":1370,"date":"2025-10-14T11:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/1370\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T11:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:52:14","slug":"utah-festivalgoer-ava-ahlander-dies-in-freak-accident-while-at-country-music-festival-to-see-post-malone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/1370\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah festivalgoer Ava Ahlander dies in ‘freak accident’ while at country music festival to see Post Malone"},"content":{"rendered":"

A festivalgoer was killed outside a popular country music festival in Utah when she was struck by a piece of falling debris from a nearby construction site while fleeing from the intense weather.<\/p>\n

Ava Ahlander was outside Redwest Music Festival at the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City when powerful wind gusts ripped a large plank from a scaffold and sent it flying toward her, the Salt Lake Tribune<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old was evacuating the fairgrounds with other attendees and three friends to find shelter from the high winds when the massive plank fell about 30 feet as she and her friends stepped out of her car \u2014 crushing her and her vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"wasAva Ahlander was killed while heading out of a popular country music festival in Utah when she was struck by a piece of falling debris from a nearby construction site while fleeing from the intense weather. GoFundMe<\/p>\n

She was rushed to the hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries, police said.<\/p>\n

The young country music fan died from her injuries, a family representative told KSL<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Ahlander, who grew up in American Fork and had been living in Seattle, returned to the Beehive State with friends to enjoy the music festival and see Post Malone, her uncle Bobby Ahlander wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook<\/a> post.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just always loved having fun. It was really fun to be around her,\u201d he told KSL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s been excruciating. The grief and the sorrow, and of course, it\u2019s such a big surprise; and it\u2019s just such a huge loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe young country music fan died from her injuries, her family revealed Monday. GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Her uncle said that as his niece and her friends stood outside the vehicle, the plank hit her in what he called a \u201cfreak accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though first responders managed to revive her at the scene, doctors later found she had no brain activity, he revealed. <\/p>\n

Her family said she was kept on life support just long enough for them to say their goodbyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAva was a beautiful soul whose kindness, warmth, and adventurous spirit touched everyone around her,\u201d family members wrote on a GoFundMe to help them with funeral and medical expenses, and to provide funds for her friends who witnessed the tragedy to attend grief counseling. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven in her passing, Ava continues to give the gift of life to others as an organ donor \u2014 a final act of generosity that truly reflects her caring nature and desire to help those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahlander\u2019s love for music was matched only by her love for the outdoors, the ocean, and her life in the Pacific Northwest, her uncle Bobby revealed to KSL.<\/p>\n

After graduating from American Fork High School, she headed to Oregon for college before settling in Seattle, where she\u2019d fallen in love with her new surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAva was an absolute delight of a human being. Everyone loved her. She had the best smile,\u201d her uncle wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A festivalgoer was killed outside a popular country music festival in Utah when she was struck by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1613,1840,318,1841,9,11,10,1842,1843,58,1844],"class_list":{"0":"post-1370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-country-music","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-freak-accidents","11":"tag-music-festivals","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-seattle","16":"tag-tragedy","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-utah"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}