Strobe lights, dancing, Halloween costumes and EDM music filled the DECC last Saturday, Nov. 1, when The Techno Club at UMD hosted Haunted Harbor, a sold-out rave event. With this success – and with an emphasis on safety – the Techno Club hopes to continue to grow their events and change attitudes towards the rave community. 

“I guess for [Haunted Harbor] we just want to have a safe event. Safety is like always our number one priority,” said President of Techno Club Reece Wickland. “We really want to end the negative stigma around this sort of music and culture as a whole.”  

EDM is a broad music genre, produced by electronic instruments and synthesizers. It has gained most of its popularity through musical festivals, clubs and raves, and is often associated with unsafe drug use, among other negative stereotypes. 

In February of 2024, Wickland, Chayton Borman and Aedan O’Neill all shared a similar interest in the genre and djing. Noticing there wasn’t much of a “rave” scene in Duluth, they took upon themselves to introduce it. Thus, they started Techno Club to grow their skills together and introduce the community to a new sound of music. 

The club has been planning the event since July. Eight music acts performed their own unique set from 8 p.m. to midnight. Over 430 general admission and VIP tickets were sold, selling out the event. Guests showed up in Halloween costumes and had the chance to enter into a costume contest for a chance to win Crisp and Green gift cards, Skihut hats and t-shirts, Salomon t-shirts and SkullCandy accessories. 

“We really wanted to promote even safe hearing and stuff like that,” said Borman, vice president of The Techno Club.  “We even hired extra security to make sure there's no riff raff.” 

To ensure a safe night, the club had ear plugs for each guest, hired extra security, and partnered with SK Taxi Services to bring guests to the after party at Flame Nightclub and back home afterwards. 

The rave had a bar available for those of legal age. Leading up to the event, the club advertised lower drink prices and exclusive bar lines for VIP ticket holders. However, the day of the event, the club ran into troubles with their venue, the DECC, for changing plans and prices last minute. 

“The DECC staff told me the day of the event that they would not be able to support a VIP line at the bar, contrary to what we had discussed previously,” said Wickland. “We are having a meeting to make sure events in the future are more streamlined with that venue. However, if they are unable to meet our expectations, we won’t be back.” 

The Techno Club’s next event will be at R.T. Quinlan's Saloon on Nov. 16. Interested students can join the club on BulldogConnect to learn about opportunities to be involved. To keep up with future events, follow their instagram @technoclubumd.