Authorities seize money, vehicles, drugs in major operation at Beyond Wonderland music festival at the Gorge

GEORGE — What started as a music festival for everyone who attended ended up as a major drug bust operation for the Columbia River Drug Task Force (CRDTF) and Grant County’s Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET) during the “Beyond Wonderland” concert series at the end of June.

For a tiny town named for the father of our country, George, Washington has one major attraction: The Gorge Amphitheater. The venue attracts some of the biggest names and festivals in music, and every summer, the shows draw crowds from all over the country to enjoy not just the entertainment, but the world-class scenery of the Columbia River Gorge that serves as a backdrop.

The Beyond Wonderland concert series features all different genres of electronic dance music, including trance, dubstep, house, techno and even more complicated subgenres of each of those. Essentially, it’s the music you would hear at a rave.

But upon looking at the “Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge 2025 Official Playlist,” you only need to get 5 songs in to find one with the refrain “I love drugs/I love fun/I love being number one.” It’s an unspoken reality that the party fuel of a rave, or indeed, of a giant music festival centered on the sound of a huge rave, is drugs. And that’s what authorities found.

The strategic partnership between CRDTF and INET targeted the Beyond Wonderland concert series at the Gorge, a venue previously associated with drug-related incidents, and brought key players to the table. The CRDTF comprises members from the Wenatchee Police Department, East Wenatchee Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, and the Washington State Department of Corrections.

Chief Ryan Moody of the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office reported that the proactive operation led to 10 criminal cases and 8 arrests for drug delivery and/or possession with intent to deliver. The initiative also successfully removed numerous dangerous narcotics from circulation.

The seized items included approximately $2,000 in cash, three vehicles, and a substantial quantity of illegal substances:

• 89 grams of cocaine (about $15,000 street value)
• 49 grams of MDMA (Molly or ecstasy)
• 46 grams of ketamine (an anesthetic used as a hallucinogen)
• 96 grams of psilocybin or “magic” mushrooms
• 39 grams of LSD (this translates to about 390,000 hits of acid)
• 15 grams of fentanyl (more than 3,000 pills)
• 20 grams of DMT (the drug found in ayahuasca)

Sheriff Mike Morrison emphasized the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation, stating, “This operation is a strong example of how cross-agency partnerships increase regional safety. The problems of one community do not stay isolated and what affects one county often spills into the next. Supporting our neighbors helps protect our own residents, and we’re grateful for the reciprocal support we receive from these agencies during critical incidents.”

This collaborative approach emphasizes the critical role of pooling resources, sharing intelligence, and implementing collective enforcement strategies to effectively combat drug trafficking and prevent overdoses. Through such cooperation, local agencies not only minimize risks at public gatherings but also establish a more robust regional defense against the proliferation of illicit drugs.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media