One should tell this (fun) to festival organisers. I go to bluegrass festivals held by two different organisations. The same crowd goes to both, but they complain bitterly at one and have a great time at the other. The difference? Rules. One organiser believes less rules, happier crowd, and he's right. There are never any serious problems at either festival, but the one with the Rules takes the fun out of it. No Dogs, No Dancing, No Beer Near the Stage, No, NO, No, No. Last summer one of the headline performers actually complained: "I love the way the Rules work here. Takes an hour to enforce the No Spoons rule, but two lovely ladies dancing are escorted off in seconds! Oh, well, priorities, eh?"

The NO Dogs rule is the worst. The Doggy-infested festival is lovely, they're mostly itty-bitty trailer dogs, no one's ever been bitten and everyone cleans up after pooch. The dogs have a grand time being petted and over-indulged with scraps, and IMO there's something lovely about seeing people wandering about with banjos and beagles and the like. It also means the travelling trailer crowd can't come because they've no place to leave their pets.