More than two dozen people taken to hospital during electronic music festival in Edmonton

EDMONTON - Around 24,000 people packed the Edmonton Expo Centre this weekend for a two-day event billed as western Canada's biggest electronic music show. But despite a strong effort by the city, police, and promoters to keep party-goers safe, dozens left the event on stretchers.

Alberta Health Services tells Global News 27 of the attendees had to be taken to hospital over the two days - 4 on Friday and 23 on Saturday.

Of those, four people are in serious condition, and two in critical.

Officials say almost all instances were either drug or alcohol related, with at least 6 patients taken with issues relating to ecstacy or a similar drug.

"While EMS were kept busy, preparation by AHS meant the impact on the system was minimal," said AHS spokesperson, Greg Kennedy.

Because of concerns with drugs, the city had assigned an ER doctor, EMS, and police to work the event. A dog team was also on site to discourage people from bringing in drugs, and anyone who refused to be searched by police or security was not allowed in. The extended LRT hours on both mornings were also put in place to give patrons a way of getting home safely.

Organizers maintain guests' safety was their number one priority.

"When you have that many people at an event, there's always going to be issues," said Marcus Gurske of Boodang Music Canada. "But we feel, we worked very, very hard to ensure public safety was at its highest degree possible."

However, one woman, who does not want to be identified, says her 20 year-old daughter attended the festival on Saturday and was in hospital later that evening after overdosing on ecstasy. While the mother puts most of the blame on her daughter, she still believes more can done to ensure the safety of patrons at events like the Elements Festival.

"Something, somehow, got into that arena. Whether it was taken outside the arena or in the arena, more has to be done."

Amine Elabdi, who was also at the festival on Saturday, doesn't think the festival is the problem, though.

"You'll find more drug use on the streets than you'll find in there, I'm tellin' you," he said.

Many of the other guests Global News spoke to were impressed with both the security efforts and the behaviour of those in attendance - including Councillor Kerry Diotte, who spent a few hours at the show.

"It had a good vibe, and I've seen some bad vibes down on Whyte Avenue at times because there's so much alcohol involved," he said.

Alcohol was cut off at midnight at the event and people were limited to one drink per person at a time. There were initially attempts by the city to make it a dry event.

Organizers say they have some concerns which they'll be addressing with EPS, the city, and Northlands in the near future.

Meanwhile, festival-goers are hoping they'll get to enjoy the event again next year.

"Edmonton is a growing city and especially electronic music - it's new in this part of the world, but it's so big in the rest of the world," said festival-goer Remington Diaz. "To bring it here, it's doing a lot for Edmonton. To stop that, it puts a damper on a lot of growth, I think, for Edmonton - musically and artistically."

With files from Slav Kornik, Global News