Sirens are blaring as cop cars and fire trucks haphazardly race down Midtown’s narrow streets. Rain blurs the setting as people are ducking under hitched up trucks, murmuring about a bomb. You can only hear traces of the emergency broadcast continuously blasted through Music Midtown’s sound systems in Piedmont Park, stating, “Evacuate the park, calmly make your way to the nearest exit,” over the sheer sense of panic that has seeped onto Midtown’s streets. Holding onto my best friend, Nicole, I can only think, how did we get here?

Music Midtown, a two-day music festival held in Piedmont Park, comes to Atlanta’s midtown annually every third week in September. The festival, which prides itself on hosting 30+ performers each year, focuses on providing a safe and inclusive environment for each music lover in attendance. As one of my favorite artists, and a performer this year, Logic, says, “In here we spread peace, love and positivity.” In order to maintain this, Music Midtown utilizes a wristband with micro-chipping technology to log who goes in and out of the event, as well as full body scans of each person before entrance. They even go as far to say that you cannot carry a bookbag into the park, just to be safe. The vendors, who are typically food trucks and radio stations, are also carefully checked and watched throughout the weekend. All in all, Music Midtown is a very safe, clean and friendly environment, which was proven as Saturday night concluded with thousands of people were passionately united in singing all the words to Twenty One Pilots' "Trees." So, what could have happened Sunday that caused these same thousands of people to rush out of the venue?

For starters, the forecast for Sunday looked pretty grim as severe thunderstorms where expected to occur between 5-7 p.m. However, at Music Midtown, this did not stop us from jamming out to our favorite artists. In fact, everyone seemed to really think it was fun because, symbolically, since we were all soaked, it was like there was no longer distinctions about us. We all looked ridiculous, but so very happy.

But the day took a bad turn quickly, as, at about 4 p.m., Nicole and I were making our way to the Electric Ballroom stage to see James Bay, large, red signs flash up claiming that a weather evacuation is in effect and we must leave. Luckily we were close enough to the exit when the alarms sounded that we didn’t get in too much of a stampede, however, since we were some of the first people out we had no clue where we were supposed to go or do. Only a few crossing guards were telling us to hurriedly make our way across the street, but then we weren’t told were we supposed to disperse from there.

Originally, when the alarms sounded, Nicole and I thought it had to be a tornado, so we became stuck on the idea of finding the quickest and safest location for shelter against a storm. Noticing that we couldn’t make our way to Trader Joe's, we swiftly made the decision to hide out in Grady High School. As we started meshing with the crowd, however, I heard a girl behind me scream to her friend’s “Stay away from garbage cans, this could be terrorist!” Instantly, my heart clenched as I listened to her detail the two bombings in New York the night before to her friends. Now, the crowd began to panic even more as whispers of terrorism fell over the crowd, as if it were the heavily fog that had settled in over our heads.

Grabbing onto Nicole, I remember saying “We need to run. Get out of this crowd”. So we started off down the street, trying to find a way into Grady, all the while watching people run into houses and hide under trucks. Then I hear my phone ring in my bag, and once again I felt my heart clench as I looked at the caller I.D., it was my friend Chris, who we had planned to meet up with later that day. Stopping in the middle of a street filled with cops cars and scrambling people, I answered and listened to her as she told me that she got separated from her friends and was all alone in the park. Terrified for her safety, as well as feeling my adrenaline urging me to run, I told her I would send her my locations as Nicole and I kept looking for a safe spot. Finally Nicole and I found a little overhang by the back side of the school, where about ten other people were camped out. With none of us having very good signal we all began to swap stories on what we think was going on.

At this point, none of us really believed it was on coming weather because of the lack of rain or black skies. We all either came to the assumption that a flood had broken out, or that there had been a bomb threat and that the park had told us that it was weather to avoid panic. It was really quite eerie, because the second that the idea that this really could be a bomb hit us, that we could become the next Centennial Olympic Park bombing, our phones collectively all started ringing with friends and family who got the notifications about the evacuation. Instantly, as all of our phones went off, I thought of the stories of the victim’s from events like Pulse Nightclub, or even 9/11, who received and sent final calls to their families, and I was terrified that this could be some of the last words I ever say.

The second my phone goes off, a call from my dad, a large crashing sound echoes from right outside of our hideaway, making everyone jump. The call was crackling and I tried to explain that we had no clue what was happening and that I needed my dad to keep watch over the news for us and keep us informed. As we hung up I told him that I loved him and my mom, and hopped that wouldn’t be the last time. I tried to check Twitter for information, but couldn’t get my phone to load. So, we all just sat there waiting for more information. Another loud crash was heard, and I become so much more worried, especially for Chris who was nowhere to be found. Waiting anxiously for her, my Dad called again to say that the news isn’t reporting anything but a really bad band of storms. Relieved, but only just, I noticed that I was getting an incoming call from Chris. Then Nicole yelled out “Chris is here!”, and we waved her in with the rest of us. I felt tears surge up in my eyes as I hugged her, so thankful to see she made it out safe. We hid out under that cove for about 45 minutes before Chris was told by her friends that an all clear had been sounded, and then we parted ways again, Nicole and I to go to Trader Joes and wait for the rain to pass, and Chris to meet up with her friends.

Although, it seems that I may be dramatizing a weather advisory, the fear that I, and everyone around me felt, was real. The park’s enigmatic, and incomplete, evacuation instructions made it very difficult to understand just what exactly we were supposed to do. As much as I love and cherish the event, I think Music Midtown failed in executing their emergency plans well, especially in a city who had just seen a terrorist event only 20 years prior. This ordeal has reminded me once again how terrorism is a fear that we Americans face every day, whether by our own decree, like the girl walking behind me who first incited the rumor, or of actual threat, like in New York. I am still dumbfounded by how quickly the situation got out of hand, and how eager some people where to ignore the warnings and stay in the park. In fact, there was a whole group of people who crowded around the Electric Ballroom stage, screaming obscenities about how they wouldn’t leave. It’s disturbing to think about how easily that crowd, that was at least 500 people strong, ignored the emergency personnel for some unfathomable reason. Not only were they at a high risk for lightening, standing directly under a large metal sound system, stage, and light system, if the rumored threat of a bomb was true they would have been killed. It was insane to watch in real time the two most polar opposite reactions to public safety infringements; those who don’t care and those who panic and cause hysteria. I only hope that we have all learned from this faulty evacuation that we need to start making smart decisions when in times of emergency.

And although this was terrifying, and Music Midtown could have handled it better, I will still be rocking out in attendance next year.