Thousands of concert goers were evacuated Saturday afternoon from the annual Pilgrimage musical festival in Franklin after a severe thunderstorm slammed the festival grounds.
Announcement to seek shelter came just after 4 p.m. as many festival goers were eagerly awaiting Lionel Richie to take stage. The announcement sent thousands of concert fans hurrying for shelter at the nearby Factory mall and Liberty Elementary School as lightning filled the dark skies. There were no injuries reported in the orderly evacuation; however, the weather and the soggy concert grounds prompted cancellation of rest of the two-day festival.
"While the cancellations of Pilgrimage’s Saturday afternoon and Sunday programming due to inclement and dangerous weather including overall site safety conditions is disappointing for everyone, we fully support the decision made by Chief Todd Horton and the City of Franklin," festival organizers said. "The safety of our patrons, guests, artists, and staff is the first priority. The lighting strikes on Saturday afternoon forced an evacuation and along with the persistent rainfall has left the site unsafe and unavailable to use. We remain committed to working with Chief Horton and the city as partners now and in the future."
Concert organizers say they are trying to determine how they will handle refunds given the festival was cancelled before it was half through. However, they pointed out the closeness of lightning left them no alternative.
For those asking if yesterday was canceled because of rain, there was lightning in the area that was passing directly over the City of Franklin," organizers revealed. "It eventually crossed over our 8 mile safety perimeter with 69 recorded lightning strikes over the course of the temporary evacuation and one strike as close as .9 miles away. The safest place to seek shelter was vehicles, The Factory and Liberty Elementary. Vehicles were held until attendees evacuating on foot were cleared from the streets as this was part of our shelter in place evacuation plan. Once pedestrians were safe, we allowed cars to leave the site."
