By
Ryan Gabrielson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
16 arrested at all-night event promoted by UA grad student
A Tucson rave that grabbed front-page headlilnes throughout the city last week because of a battle with Pima County went off relatively smoothly during the weekend.
Transcend, the all-night rave that lasted until about 7 a.m. yesterday, drew about 1,800 people to Cowtown Keeylocko, about 40 miles southwest of Tucson.
Despite the hype and a last-minute change of location, many University of Arizona students attending the rave said they enjoyed their experience.
"You don't find this type of scene at a club," said Chris Ancharski, an undeclared freshman. "It's a different world."
Besides the many people attending the rave for its musical acts and dance scene, there was a strong contingency of law enforcement officials present. Officers from three different police agencies - about 30 Pima County sheriff deputies, 20 Tohono O'odham officers and about 10 Department of Public Safety officers -
There were "no major problems" and only 16 arrests, said Diane Coulters, a Pima County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.
The all-night, $30 rave was originally scheduled to be held at the Pima County Fairgrounds, but county officials backed of their contract with Euphoric Empire because they were concerned about the drug use often associated with the musical festivals.
The new location at Cowtown Keeylocko seemed to be a hit to most people in attendance. Wearing wings and an antenna, undeclared freshman Samantha Smith said there is more to the rave scene than Ecstasy and other drugs.
"You'll never find a nicer group of people anywhere," Smith said. "If somebody wants to do drugs badly enough, they'll do them at home."
"We came here to do one thing tonight, and that's move to the beats," shouted a disc jockey at one of the smaller tents.
The atmosphere was as-to-be expected for a rave - extravagant. Cartoons with fluid-like figures were projected on three sides of the tent covering the main stage. Surgical masks, pacifiers, velvet and glitter covered many of the ravers as they sat in between two sets of 12-foot-high speakers, reacting to girls in ponytails and bikini tops brought on stage to hype the crowd.
The ravers danced mostly in place with glow sticks in their hands, between their teeth and around their necks.
"It's the music, the people and the scene" that motivates Sarah Moore, a UA business freshman to keep going to raves.
Moore estimates that she attends about 25 a year and plans to travel to Los Angeles next weekend for the Nocturnal Wonderland music festival.
Many in attendance said they felt the event was overhyped by the media.
"There was ridiculous hype," said Teresa Billick, 17, of Tucson. "This is the first time we've ever been worried about getting into a party."
Even though the event went off with major incident, an attorney for Euphoric Empire said the company has not decided if it will peruse legal charges against the county.
"Pima County breached the contract, they failed to provide police, they failed to provide an outside area," said Alan Holcomb, Euphoric Empire attorney. "They basically told us we would rather risk a multi-million dollar lawsuit than let you have your rave.
"We feel they have opened themselves up to a multi-million dollar lawsuit and we're considering that."
