Trashed

Seeing the veritable tsunami of garbage left in the aftermath of a Dave Matthews Band performance at the state park in Saratoga is a sobering experience. The utter disdain these visitors seem to have for the nature preserve surrounding the Performing Arts Center is staggering for any civilized human familiar with the long standing tradition of throwing trash in the aptly named trash cans.

Each year, the otherwise innocuous horde of fans descends upon to this ordinarily sanguine area of the city with cases of beer and grillables, turning the park into an orgy of drunken mayhem. Two days later, they leave behind a park in a condition that even most landfill operators would consider deplorable. And Saturday’s finale didn’t disappoint.

As Matthews belted out the first few chords of his opening tune, the rolling greens of the park pavilions stood dotted with a confetti of beer cans and colored Solo cups. The of shattering glass was an all-too-frequent sound in parking areas, as exiting traffic smashed carelessly discarded bottles. Even with plastic garbage cans placed prominently throughout the park, there was a litany of other refuse left behind, ranging from smashed Styrofoam coolers to busted lawn chairs to rotting hotdogs; all standard fare for wasted concertgoers.

On a side note, the now-annual dump of garbage in the park has spurred an odd symbiosis, with the bulk majority of returnable cans and bottles being collected in mere hours by groups of enterprising adolescents, who understand that 1,000 cans translates to $50 worth of drinking cash. Still, the park’s grounds crew inevitably logged overtime to clean up this disaster, which is a price that should be paid by the host Clear Channel Entertainment, and not state taxpayers, who pay the salaries of the SPAC staff.

Still, there remains the gnawing question, which is where these people learned it’s even remotely reasonable to throw their refuse on the ground where they stand. What’s implied by their wanton disregard is that they would find it proper to defecate on the same bed they sleep, a thought that raises a number of questions from a behaviorist point of view.

Now, one could be quick to jump to the conclusion that state park officials should simply start cracking down on the revelers, giving those who choose to use the park as an extension of the bars downtown a ride in the back of a paddy wagon along with a book of citations. But this would simply reinforce among these partiers –many of them either soon to attend or attending college –a prevalent perception of an overly policed society. And besides, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of drunken fun now and again.

Here’s a different solution for park police to put in their pipe and smoke. If someone’s vehicle happens to be surrounded by garbage and unattended, then write them a ticket for littering; even place a warning on the concert tickets themselves so that fans aren’t caught off guard. It’s not likely that the fine will deter people from their filthy ways, but it would add revenue to the park’s coffers that could be used to help rehab trails, creeks and then some.

Even better would be a public appeal from Matthews himself to his audience, asking them to respect the park that has earned him a hefty penny over the past decade, or perhaps risk loosing the well-loved venue. After all, SPAC could very easily tell Matthews to screw off, much like they did with the Grateful Dead back in the day.