Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Bumbershoot: They really don't get the picture

According to the general info page for the Bumbershoot Festival, cameras will not be allowed on the Seattle Center grounds during the four-day festival.

I can understand flash cameras being banned from indoor concerts, but from the grounds of Seattle Center? Particularly when half of the cell phones around are equipped with cameras? Who is going to enforce this rule, and how on earth could the concert organizers determine if someone had used a cell phone camera. Would they confiscate the phone and read the memory card?

Bumbershoot also has a ban on audio and video equipment on the grounds during the festival. That was easy to enforce a few years ago, but how are they going to spot and deal with someone whose iPod is equipped with a microphone?

What's even more fascinating is that their website doesn't say that use of cameras and recording is equipment is forbidden -- it says clearly that the devices themselves are forbidden and that attendees should leave those (cell phones and iPods) at home.

Glad that Bumbershoot security isn't my gig. I doubt that most people going to Bumbershoot will bother reading their info page, and cell phone and iPod users will be in for a very bad customer service experience when they arrive with those devices in hand or in backpack.

Hope the weather is excellent for the festival because the info page also states that umbrellas are prohibited. Umbrellas. At the Bumbershoot Festival. Hello?