Maddie, we certainly don’t need that again. Damn near gave us all heart attacks.
I’m waiting to buy any grass until CO for sure. 
As much as I’m not a fan of his in general, I give Shappy credit for using the bygone index card / mailorder system for “GD50 / Fare Thee Well” reunion. While I certainly wouldn’t want to have all aspects of life to be “throwbacks”, I’d put ticketing in the same category as voting … without a paper trail or direct involvement of human beings who are accountable, the system is bound to be gamed by those seeking to exploit vulnerabilities for personal gain.
I would like to keep going to see music in town park, but I think I might be done … this is a tipping point for me. It started with Blues & Brews last year (which likely also means Jazz Fest due to same promoter), but Bluegrass kinda pushes it over the edge. After a little reflection, perhaps I didn’t appreciate the old bygone system enough for the “sanctuary” that it was … I was a bit harsh at times. At this point, I’m not going to blame a dog for barking or a cat for scratching … it’s the nature of the business, but DO blame the Town of Telluride for not stepping up to the plate re: the use of public land by private interests in a manner that does the hokey pokey with subverting 4th amendment rights.
Not sure how many of you have ever been to Telluride for the 4th of July, but what if it the town decided to use RFID devices (that tether’s ones identity to device) to restrict entry into town park in order to manage crowds? Step back and ask whether it’d be OK for the town to require all vehicles or people entering town limits to possess an RFID device?
Yes I’m worried that my 20th year in a row won’t happen because of the new system. But I think the true level of success will be determined by the amount of tickets available thru scalping sites.
If there is a sudden increase in availability of TP and WF tickets on Craigslist, stubhub or the hundreds of ticket broker sites, “our” fest is over.
See Tickets assures is that they have ways to eliminate Competition from the bots. But those ticket agencies are incredibly resilient. If Russians can figure out ways to infiltrate our elections then ticket agencies can figure out a way to grab tickets faster than festivarians.
I’m hoping and praying that this turns out to be a wonderful new system. But excuse me for being highly doubtful.
This is really concerning. Hate it.
Very interesting read FOM. It sure doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies tho.
Good luck everyone. Today is going to be crazy!
Not quite. You were on the right track up through the phrase “activated by radio waves”. RFID tags most certainly do not track your movements, like a Fitbit or GPS device would. It simply contains a unique code…a type of “digital barcode” that can be associated with information in the reading system’s computer. The radio waves from the reading device ‘power up’ the tag when in close proximity, and can identify the unique code. This sends the code to the database that confirms whether or not that code is tied to an authorized individual. For the types of tags that would fit into a wristband, 3 feet is an incredibly optimistic range, and 1 foot is more likely. When not in the range of an RFID reader, the tag has no power at all and is completely passive. There IS active RFID but that uses a battery and is much much larger. Even that maxes out at around 500ft.
The only way an RFID bracelet could “track” your movements is if they required scanning in/out at every location in the festival.
Loosejello is mostly correct; I’ll expand with a few details.
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We use a “passive RFID” system. The RFID tag in our wristbands is not continuously transmitting any information. It must be physically tapped against an RFID scanner to activate. At this point, the only information it passes through to the scanner is a serial number. That serial number is stored in our customer database and links to your order. The RFID tag itself does not store information like your name, address, or any other order details. Our secure database is required to be able to match your serial number to your order details. This is EXACTLY THE SAME PROCESS as scanning a barcode ticket, with the only difference being you are wearing the barcode on your wrist instead of trading in your paper ticket. The benefit to this is that your wristband, if lost, can be linked to your order. If you go on a mountain bike ride and tear your wristband off, we can remotely deactivate it and issue you a new wristband.
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As mentioned, the ONLY way to “track” location using your passive RFID bracelet would be for you to “check-in” at scanning stations throughout the festival. Some large festivals operate this way as they can benefit from having the data around which attractions are most popular. They can let sponsors know how many people visited a sponsor activation and therefore have an ROI story to tell brand partners. Planet Bluegrass IS NOT doing this, for several reasons: 1) making people scan in creates a bottleneck in pedestrian traffic. 2) Checkin stations require internet connectivity and it’s not exactly easy to rely on that in Telluride/Lyons. 3) Additional scanning stations are expensive and not that beneficial for the cost. 4) We think it’s creepy to know where you are and we don’t want to invade your privacy. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Congratulations, it’s the BEST festival. Join in with the prefestival activities in the town park and say hi. We are a superfriendly bunch. Keep following the page - lots of great things to do before the festival commences so make sure you arrive early. Welcome to the family