Christina James and her son Nick James, cleaning up Ocean Beach

The Outside Lands Ocean Beach clean-up, which happens on the Saturday morning of the festival, is touted as one of the festival’s efforts to contribute to the community and showcase a  commitment to a green, sustainable concert. And while the Surfrider Foundation and Save The Waves, the organizers of the clean-up, were excited by hundreds of online RSVPs they received for the activity, the actual number of people who showed up was much more modest, at around 75.

“We expected more festival-goers to be here,” said Sara Dack, a member of the Surfrider Foundation who helped organize the clean-up.

“Getting to Ocean Beach can be such a nightmare when you’re in the city, so I think a lot of the people who go to the festival are focused on getting in and getting out, quickly. I think there were definitely more people here last year.”

Sooni Gillet, Office Manager and Outreach Coordinator for Save The Waves, had a similar sentiment. “We hope for more people next year. But we were happy with the enthusiasm of the community members and festival participants.”

While their numbers may have been fewer than expected, that didn’t diminish the efforts of those who did attend the clean-up. Volunteers, both from the neighborhood and from the festival itself, were enthusiastic about being involved, and collectively picked up more than 60 bags of trash.

Christina James, along with her son Nick James, live nearby the park and were on hand for the clean-up.

“Nick starts school on Monday, so we thought it was good to spend the last weekend of summer break at the beach. And a beach clean-up is part of our beach bash. Besides, it’s our town out here, so let’s keep it clean,” Christina James said.

And then there were the festival-goers themselves, many of whom heard about the clean-up on the Outside Lands website. Leanne Yee of Vancouver, British Columbia; Darlene Usi of Las Vegas; and Kelly Murphy of Los Angeles were there, faces shiny with glitter, to clean the beach before spending the rest of the day at the festival.

From left to right: Sooni Gillett of Save the Waves, Kelly Murphy of Los Angeles, Darlene Usi of Las Vegas and Leanne Yee of Vancouver, British Columbia.

“We’re staying in a hostel downtown and took the bus out here,” explained Kelly. “I’m actually pretty excited that our bus pass lasts until later in the day, because then we can just jump on the bus and go back to the park from here.”

Kelly, Darlene and Leanne are part of a group of festival-goers called Mad Mad Love, who connect online before summer music festivals and then meet to enjoy the music and the company of new-found friends. Their motto is “I don’t know you, but I love you.”

“We like to meet random strangers and have random, enjoyable experiences together,” Kelly said. “And a beach cleanup is great way to give back while we have fun.”

Sooni Gillet had a few interesting ideas in how to attract a more sizable crowd in future years.

“I think a lot of people are intimidated to get out here. They’re all taking a bus or a cab, and probably wondering how to get to the festival from the beach. It would be a good idea to have a shuttle for next year’s cleanup. People could get themselves to the beach, and then a shuttle would bring them right to the entrance of the festival.”

Another idea was to include some of the musicians themselves in the cleanup. There were hints that one of the headlining acts was going to participate in the cleanup this year, first to surf Ocean Beach with a few members of Save The Waves and then help with the cleanup. The band failed to show up, but Gillet thought it made for an interesting way to attract a bigger crowd in the future.

“If we had a band commit to coming to the cleanup, and if we advertised it, that would lead to a huge increase in the turnout,” Gillet said.

All photos: Kristine Mendoza