One person attending the Escapade Music Festival over the weekend died and others were taken to hospital.
In total, paramedics transported 16 festival-goers to hospital, including four in critical condition, according to Marc-Antoine Deschamps, superintendent of public information with the Ottawa Paramedic Service. Some of those taken to hospital were suffering from suspected overdoses.
Others were taken to hospital for other issues, including heat exhaustion.
The death was confirmed by a friend of the person who died. No cause of death has been confirmed.
Deschamps said paramedics, supported by ski patrol, were on-site for all three days of the festival last weekend.
The transport of so many attendees to hospital would have put added pressure on local hospital emergency rooms which, like emergency departments across the country, are already seeing record wait times amid staff shortages and high demand.
Paramedics have long been on-site at the Escapade Music Festival, said Deschamps. Prior to its move to Lansdowne Park for 2022, it was last held at RCGT Park at Coventry Road. It began as a one-day event in the ByWard Market in 2010 and has grown exponentially since then to include some of the biggest names in electronic music.
It has also moved around. In the past, it has been held at Rideau Carleton Raceway and the RA Centre.
Over the weekend, some local residents complained about the noise over three days. City Coun. Shawn Menard, whose ward includes Lansdowne, tweeted: “I know there is a rethink going on about where this should be located.”
Author of the article:
Elizabeth Payne