GRANT COUNTY — During this Memorial Day weekend, the county's lakes, the Columbia River, the Gorge Amphitheatre and the sand dunes south of Moses Lake had plenty of visitors, and some ended their visit in jail.

The Gorge Amphitheatre was the county's main attraction as it hosted the annual Sasquatch Music Festival. The three-day festival started Friday and featured artists like Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper, Beck and others.

Attendance inside the amphitheater fluctuated from 8,447 on Friday to 19,431 on Saturday and 20,408 on Sunday. The campground was filled with approximately 6,000 cars.

Concertgoers received 36 civil infractions for speeding and seat belt violations from the Grant County Sheriff's Office, said Chief Deputy Dave Ponozzo. Sheriff's deputies wrote 30 criminal citations, he said, including complaints about trespassing and possession of marijuana.

A 19-year-old Eugene, Ore., man was booked into jail on anticipated charges of second-degree arson, possession of marijuana and minor in possession after he burned a portable toilet inside the amphitheater.

Countywide, 19 people were booked into Grant County Jail on drug-related offenses from Friday to Monday. Another 18 people were booked into the jail for alcohol violations.

The Washington State Patrol operated with extra troopers in Grant County for both the Memorial Day weekend's additional traffic and Moses Lake's Spring Festival, said Trooper Rich Magnussen.

WSP had their mobile impaired driving unit stationed at the patrol's Moses Lake office over the weekend, Magnussen said.

"The officers, not only state patrol, but local officers, were able to bring in their DUIs they arrested and we had our technicians in the motor home that would do all the processing so we could get the officers back out on the streets quicker," Magnussen said.

At the Moses Lake sand dunes, Grant County sheriff's deputies responded to five off-road vehicle accidents during the weekend, according to Chief Deputy Courtney Conklin. There were a few more accidents, he said, at the Beverly sand dunes.

"A couple were transported for stitches and there might have been a couple broken bones, but nothing life-threatening like in years past," Conklin said.

Between 3,000 and 3,500 people were at the Moses Lake sand dunes at any given time during the weekend, Conklin said. Between four and seven deputies patrolled the dunes during that time. Two ORV deputies typically patrol the dunes on weekends.

About 30 tickets were written, Conklin said, mostly from ORV related violations. Sheriff's deputies made five arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol and five others were arrested or cited for minor in possession or consumption of alcohol.

Despite the 10 citations at the Moses Lake sand dunes, Conklin said the alcohol ban appears to be effectively preventing the lawlessness of years past.

The Grant County Commissioners banned alcohol at both sand dune areas in the spring of 2005.

"We didn't lose anybody this weekend, thanks to the alcohol ban," said Chief Deputy John Turley.

Four people representing the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce spent six hours on Friday distributing information and surveys to visitors at both entrances to the Moses Lake sand dunes, said chamber president Jacie Daschel.

"We didn't catch everybody coming in, but it probably was a good representative sample," Daschel said. "In general, the people who were there were pretty accepting of (the alcohol ban)."

The survey didn't ask questions specifically about the alcohol ban, she said, but "if it came up" their opinion was recorded. The results of the survey were not available.

"We were there primarily just to get a feeling for who was coming in, where they were coming from, where they're not coming from, that kind of thing," she said. "We still had a lot of people in their 20s and early 30s that were coming in, and families."a