You should clean up after yourself!

It’s really not that hard of a concept.

Or at least, it shouldn’t be.

But for people who go to concerts and festivals, it’s apparently rocket science.

People who clean up after festivals, what have you found?
byu/stonkstovenus inAskReddit

Here are just a few of the wild things people of Reddit have found left behind.

1. An entire drum set

I used to help run a music venue. Cleaning and tearing down after the shows was usually the best because that meant finding items to put in the lost in found; one for the backstage for items left over by bands and one behind the ticket counter for the crowds.

We usually gave the items one month to be claimed, posting about them on social media, before we could claim them for ourselves.

The biggest or most expensive item left behind that no one ever claimed was a entire drum set. It wasn’t uncommon for bands to not come back for their stuff since they usually lived too far away.

– gil_beard

2. S**t coolers

I didn’t need to know that s**t coolers are a thing, but apparently s**t coolers are a thing and people just leave them there for cleanup crew.

If you’re gonna s**t in a cooler please bring it home with you or dispose yourself.

– eyesoftheworld13

3. All that glitters

Drugs, alcohol, money, clothes, jewellery, electronics like torches or portable speakers, phones, food, drinks, sleeping bags, air beds, tents, cookers, tables, chairs, gazebos, fridges and, very occasionally depending on the festival, a caravan.

Of course that’s the good stuff, to find that you have to wade through an ocean of destroyed tents and trash, about a million cigarette butts and every bodily fluid a human is capable of producing.

– GroktheFnords

4. Cash

Hahhahah this was a small edm concert organized at our college . I was one of the volunteers to help Clean up after. I found a small wad of cash tied with a rubber band .

Instinctively i was just curious to know how much was there. Turned out to be around $250 if u convert it from my local currency. I probably would have kept it , but sadly it did have a small piece of paper with along with the rubber band and a name .

Unfortunately i knew the person although not close to me. Gave it up at the office and it was returned the next day .

– War-ear

5. Wasted booze

I used to clean up after busy weekends at a UK motorsport venue.

One area of the paddock was a trove of wind-blown banknotes. You’d find something there nearly every shift, sometimes several.

You’d find the occasional soiled nappy, but apart from that the striking thing in my experience was the booze – all that wasted, wasted booze. Bottles and cans nearly full, or even unopened – all of it needing to be chucked. Some days I’d pour away gallons of it.

Apart from that it was mostly napkins, crisp packets, and soda cans.

– MagicSPA

6. Trash

We did volunteer/crew for a small outdoor festival several years ago. Two days of bands, open ground seating etc.

The main thing I learned was that most people are pigs and a**holes who expect others to clean up after them.

Seriously, what kind of trashy person leaves a pile of dirty diapers on the ground?

– [deleted user]

7. Pocket stuffings

I use to be a carney back in the day and our company had a rule that you got to keep all c**p that fell out of people pockets on the rides that went upside down if you were the operator that night, like the cage ferris wheel, ring o’ fire, or even the scrambler had good payouts sometimes.

All staff would have to draw straws or we would full out fight to operate those rides every night because we would walk away with some mad cash and all kinds of other “illegal” goodies, like drugs and guns. You also had to deal with vomit on occasion (not as often as you think), so it had its drawbacks. Still worth the extra money.

– SkitzoFlamingo

8. Fresh kicks

Found a pretty fresh pair of timberlands that were in my exact size! Still going strong 4 years later.

Otherwise usual stuff, camping gear, quite a lot of drugs, money etc

– ha7zi

9. A tent

I worked at festivals from 2011-2013. I only had to work the clean up once but it had its highs and lows.

Good things that were offered: A pop-up tent and a crate of fruit cider.

Awful things I found: A human s**t hidden under a pie box.

– Psychological_Pin164

10. Keys

Not cleaning up, but I just happen to find a set of keys in the grass after a Fourth of July celebration.

I turned them in to an official, but what a miserable feeling of getting back to your car, fumbling for your car keys, and not finding them, then turning around and looking at the acres of parkland, all in the dark, wondering where to even start looking, wondering if they were found and turned in, who would they have been turned into.

It was a bad night for someone or maybe a family.

– EC-Texas

11. Sock

(I was volunteering to clean up after a huge concert festival thing in my town.)

Found a sock, and when I went to pick it up and throw it away, It was squishy, and because I was curious for no reason, I looked inside, it was full of what I thought was ketchup and…… white sauce, so I f**king yeeted it, watched, and heard it splat on the ground, threw up in my mouth a little, then noped outta there after that. I’m so glad I didn’t forget to bring gloves that day-

– Spare_Asparagus_3290

12. Shades

Best thing I found was a bit of dirt weed and some cheap shades that were only moderately scratched.

I’ve heard of people finding money or decent amounts of drugs but I’ve never actually seen it happen.

– saynotosealevel

13. Weed and cash

Roskilde Festival in 1998 and 1999.

We found some marijuana, quite a lot of money (something like $100) and the first year we swiped some rather expensive lightweight tents that were left behind, which we cleaned and used for years afterwards.

A few nice sleeping packs, too.

– casualwalkabout

14. Mostly clothes

Country Music festival.

Found too many pairs of panties, lots of flip flops (eww), many pairs of sunglasses (including some sweet aviators), lots of cannabis (legal in Canada) and almost as much cocaine. Condoms both in and out of packages.

Probably most disturbing was a single baby shoe. Post festival cleanups are always very much a “lose faith in humanity” sort of experience.

– UnluckyObserver_1

15. Animals?

Roskilde Festival 2017:

Loads upon loads of drugs. It was turned in to the police. Mostly.

Expensive a** tents that easily went for $300 once cleaned.

Lots of phones, wallets and some lose cash.

A cat (?!), it did have a microchip and was returned to the owner.

Two tortoises. Adopted by a volunteer who already had a bunch of them at home.

A 14” double-ended dildo.

STD-Molotovs (a.k.a used condoms).

High grade chemical gloves were a must.

– Vertebrae_Viking

16. A Samurai sword

Can’t imagine how they got it past security or how they didn’t get bounced once they were inside.

Nobody ever came back to claim it either.

– Repulsive-Purple-133

17. Nothing

Back in the 90s there was a Rock Fest that was nicknamed Mud Fest due to the heavy rains turning the entire area into a mud pit.

Someone asked about lost and found, and the radio station said that for the first time in Rock Fest history there was nothing in the lost and found, because anything left behind was under a food to mud by closing time.

– verminiusrex

18. Cash money, y’all

I volunteered to clean up after a local festival and we got a locally famous rich family show up. They left a purse with £350 cash inside and as their name was on the inside, we phoned them up to collect it.

They told us they couldn’t be bothered to come get it and we could keep it! The four of us working kept a tenner each then gave the rest to a local homeless shelter. Ended up getting paid for a volunteering job!!

– BeccaSX_xx

19. S**t. Literally.

When I was in high school I was involved in the local youth group. We went to a Christian music festival called Ichthus, and we got a discount if we helped clean up after. Our group was assigned to tear down the women’s shower building that was set up temporarily for the festival.

Good gawd.

There were used tampons galore, a couple bags of human s**t, and everything was soaked in pee. That’s when I realized women were just as disgusting as men, possibly worse.

– doctorwhoobgyn

20. A fridge

I once found a big white fridge!

It was connected to a car battery, but it wasn’t running (anymore at least).

Can’t believe the effort it must’ve required to get it there. No cars were allowed on the camping area.

– VuFFeR

21. Some crystal

Not someone that cleans up but I found a huge bag of what was obviously crystal meth at a festival once.

The funniest part was about an hour later I saw a bunch of guys frantically going through their pockets repeatedly while running around looking at all of the trash on the ground.

Every now and then one of them would get extremely excited and go sprinting over to a random piece of plastic on the ground then pick it up and look extremely disappointed when they realised it was just trash.

– krazykiwikid69

22. Empty pockets

Many wallets, a lot of condoms and drugs, passports, cash, notebooks, keys from houses and cars and loads of clothes.

Also once I found the ticket for another festival that was just straight after. Also loads tent stuff which I have some of in my house, such as some mattresses and tent bags.

– Apolonio99

23. Random stuff

I used to work a burger van at Leeds festival every year and every year we had people asking if they could pay with an assortment of random stuff.

Mostly drugs, once a pair of flip flops, but I had some guy wanting to swap a packet of ramen for a burger, a single shoe for some fries, etc.

– veganpolykat

24. A KNIFE!

I was cleaning seats and i found a knife. Turns out a guy was trying to murder his best friend (i dont know why or how).

Police were investigating that one for sometime.

– BlockySyrup

25. The powder

I used to work at an amusement park doing theatre tech work- there was a special event one night and we worked overnight to strike a series of temporary stages that had been brought in for the event.

My coworkers went to the bathroom and evidently found it just covered in cocaine. Thankfully, our job was just to strike the stage and equipment, but I feel bad for the guys who had to clean up

– Enjolraw

26. Glowsticks

I found so many glow sticks once, even though the festival ended way before dark.

I’m sure people bought them for their kids to take home, but it still confuses me for some reason.

– OkAdministration5886

27. A camera

After the Canada day celebrations at the legislature grounds in Edmonton.

Me and my friends would walk around after and one time we found a Camera, A grinder full of weed and a cooler half full of beer and a bottle of booze.

Quite the find for some junior high kids.

– MetisMessiah

28. A diaper

Not a major festival, but a celebration for a nearby church that was celebrating 50 years of being a church.

Found a diaper (completely soiled) under the stage as we were taking it apart. Which would explain why people distanced themselves from the stage. Also found a vape pen under one of bounce houses.

Really weird moment.

– Senor_ghost0

29. Phones

2 iPhones. 2 wallets, multiple baggies of unknown drugs and pills, set of car keys. Multiple camel packs that were discarded.

I also found a larger bag of unknown pills on the walk back to the car when leaving the venue.

We were successful on getting the iPhones back to their owners rather quickly.

Both rang within minutes of finding them .

– cmfracasse

30. Pee pee

Bonnaroo 2019

Bottles of urine at numerous locations. In one instance a pile of bottles filled with urine. I’ve been to Roo four times and 100% empathize with anyone not wanting to walk all the way to a porta potty. But you can’t dump it out in the morning or before leaving? C’mon

The most annoying thing was those hydro bead things. The volunteer supervisors said everything that wasn’t grass or dirt had to be picked up. Those little things are obnoxious.

– JBAUMILLER

It’s shocking how much of this is volunteer work. We salute you, brave souls.

Have you ever had an experience like this?

Tell us about it in the comments.