I went to the Woodford Folk Festival on the 30th after about a twelve year abstention period. Long enough for me to forget why I didn't want to return – it's the heat, stupid. I suggest you find out more about the festival from Wikipedia, or by general googling, or image googling, or even get 1k words from flickr, but steer well clear of the painful-to-use official site (no link love, brothers).
So before leaving, I checked the map – the festival site itself is not marked (it was in fact marked since I looked by David Dean on the 29th, it seems). I remembered something about a Burning Man festival being mapped by OSM, so checked that out for ideas. Not particularly fruitful for tagging guidance, but it turned out to have been mapped in cooperation with the festival organisers (as a win-win). I liked that approach. Maybe someone keener than me might take that idea to the WFF organisers in future. Be warned that their website doesn't indicate any embracing of open digital culture (WMV downloads, right-click is disabled).
I decided to only map features which are likely to persist from year to year, which means permanent structures, larger footways (pedestrian ways, specifically), the large carpark, and the gates. Many of the larger performance venues weren't even permanent. It's just as well, because it was profoundly uncomfortable in the heat of day. Though my GPS remained on, I had very little energy for anything but finding refreshment and respite from the heat. The venues were like ovens, diminishing enjoyment almost completely. Against this adversity, for what it's worth, I was blown away (unfortunately not coolly) with performances by Doch and Taikoz. (sigh … why does every music group's website have to suck?)
So I used "access=designated" for most ways on the site. It's on private property and opens as a commercial venture during event times only. Please tell me if I should do it another way.
I took a photo of the festival map. It had no copyright symbol by it, but I suspect it might be dicey to post it. I did like their "street" names very much:
- The Middle Path, The High Road, The Low Road
- Lois Lane
- Ilovea Parade
- High Court
- Fashion Parade
- Andoffhe Road
- Short Circuit
- The Waywewere
- Lefthand Lane
- Getting Close
- Ina Way
- Ridiculously Close
- Any Road
- Gala Parade
- Lamington Drive
- Welcome Road
On the way up, we didn't take Steve Irwin Way, so I was unable to photograph its welcoming monument, which I'd noticed two days before. Ahh, someone's done it for me.
On the way back I marked a few road stubs and added the village of Wamuran. That's about all there was left unmarked before we rejoined the highway.
I won't be back to tidy up the festival map I started. These days, I can't take hippies seriously. And another thing: do you know what they say about mad dogs and Englishmen? Yes? Now just add hippies.
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