After years of programming, SnowGlobe is in meltdown. On August 3, the Lake Tahoe City Council voted to end its contract with SnowGlobe Music Festival, permanently ousting the event from its home at Lake Tahoe Community College ahead of its 10th anniversary iteration, scheduled for December 29 – 31. Since its inception in 2011, Lake Tahoe locals have decried the noise that would leak into the wee hours of the morning and the debris left annually in SnowGlobe’s wake, not to mention the poor tipping habits of out-of-town visitors coming solely to attend the festival.
In 2018, the Center for Environmental Health sued SnowGlobe organizers for excess levels of benzene in the air under California’s Proposition 65, alleging that the festival’s reliance on diesel-powered equipment such as generators, buses, and trucks unsafely compromised the area’s quality. The following year, the Viacom-owned festival signed a five-year contract with the city of South Lake Tahoe, allowing Viacom to continue holding the festival on the condition that it did so in a different location.
Following the event’s cancellation in 2020, organizers had until June 18, 2021 to find a new venue. Viacom supplied the city council with a list of six possible venue options, including two golf courses, a high school, casino parking lots, and a community camp—all of which were denied and led the council to declare that due to Viacom’s inability to identify a suitable alternative area to host the festival, SnowGlobe was in breach of contract and would be cancelled indefinitely.
Via: Tahoe Daily Tribune
Featured image: Brian Walker
