Coachella and Stagecoach campground lost and found: What happens to it?
MECCA, Calif. (KESQ)-- Each and every year, thousands of music fans descend upon the desert to attend both Stagecoach and Coachella. Last year, 250,000 tickets were sold for the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Country Music Festival, according to attendance data provided to News Channel Three by the city of Indio, but 2025 was expected to have an even higher turnout.
Higher attendance also leads to more items being left behind. With so many people in town, its easy to misplace items, especially enjoying the performances out at the Empire Polo Club. Most of those items end up at the festival's lost and found. But what happens to the 60,000-70,000 pounds of junk that campers get rid of at Stagecoach and Coachella every year?
In order to find that answer, all you have to do is ask Lupe Torres Hilario. She's the Director of Operations at the Galilee Center in Mecca. Over the past six years, her organization has partnered with Goldenvoice, the creators of the music festivals, to solve the 'lost and found' problem. They work together to make sure perfectly good items don't go to waste.
News Channel Three's Tori King visited the Galilee Center in Mecca to see the process from start to finish.
"So these are not like Prada sunglasses or diamond earrings being left behind, I mean, this is stuff that people deliberately left behind that they did not want to take home," asked News Channel Three's Tori King.
"Yeah, that's correct, we don't get none of that," that Hilario. "The only stuff that we get is what campers use to spend the night that they don't want to take back with them, things that they don't want, or they don't need it. Toothpaste, cots, beds, blankets, pillows, inflatable pools. That's the stuff we bring back."
Items are sorted at the center, cleaned and are first given to those in need.
"A lot of the sleeping bags are used for most of the homeless people that come in and ask us for something to keep them warm wherever they need to spend the night,” said Hilario. "We do also give back to families in need that come in with a clothing voucher. We do give them whatever they need with a clothing voucher."
Whatever is left, is marked with a price and then sold at the Galilee Center Thrift Store.
"Everything gets sold, and all of the the profits go towards funding our programs," said Hilario. "Those programs include our rental assistance, utility assistance, our food program, which is feeding 450 families each each week, and our our infant services. We give out 500 diapers to infants once a month. So you can give back to the community by purchasing from our store."
Hilario hopes the partnership between the center and Goldenvoice continue for years to come.
"We try to help the community any way we can, and we would love to keep doing it," said Hilario.
For more information on the Galilee Center, or any of its programs or thrift stores, click here.
