Lardner home wanted for music festival

Organisers of a new year’s music festival have told Baw Baw Shire Council they want Lardner Park to become the permanent home for Beyond the Valley.

Promoter Tom Caw said they wanted to make Lardner Park the permanent home for the festival, which is this year set for four days.

“We are looking forward to making Lardner Park our permanent home. Some festivals go for 25 to 30 years and we look forward to that,” he said.

Mr Caw was one of four people to present to a special community briefing session of council last week.

On behalf of Incognitus, Sue Kiernan presented results of a business community survey conducted earlier this year that sought to determine future social, cultural and economic opportunities of the festival.

Fifty six responses were received from around West Gippsland.

Ms Kiernan said some of the key findings of the survey showed:

284 nights accommodation were booked in Drouin, Warragul, Yarragon and Trafalgar as a result of the festival;

Food suppliers in Warragul, Drouin and Trafalgar fed crew and staff members;

Warragul winery contracted to supply food to acts;;

Plumbers, agricultural equipment, septic tank contractors, hardware, crane hire band mechanics were among those that benefitted;

10 local residents employed; were

Petrol sales were significant in the area; and,

A Drouin charity shop recorded huge sales from people seeking cheap camping supplies.

Ms Kiernan said the majority of respondents agreed music festivals were a value to the community but some feedback indicated there needed to be better communication with local businesses.

“Businesses were keen to do business with Beyond the Valley,” she said.

Ms Kiernan said while return investment was important, it was more important to consider local stakeholders and work with businesses and community organisations ahead of the festival.

“For a music festival to be successful long term it is important to have the support of local communities and local authorities,” she said.

Craig Lovett of Incognitus said at the end of the 2015 Lardner event, organisers debriefed and worked out what they could do different.

He said communication and engagement for last year’s festival was difficult because they did not receive permission to go ahead until December 12.

“Our plan is to start communication in July and continue up until the event.

“We believe we have found the best home for this event. It was an outstanding platform for an international music event.

Mr Lovett said this year’s event would be again capped at 16,500 people.

“Our plan is to grow the event but we will cap it for another year to make sure we get it right,” he said.

Beyond the Valley promoters Christian Serrao and Tom Caw said they wanted to improve the event and work with businesses in the area.

Mr Caw told council they were working with AIME (Aboriginal Indigenous Mentoring) to bring acts to the festival and $1 from every ticket sold would be donated to the organisation.

Mr Serrao explained the plan to hold the event over four days this year was to spread the arrival of people and reduce traffic congestion.

He said the first day would hopefully attract about 5000 people and there would be some live music, for a shorter time period, on a “local stage” within the campground, separate to the main stage.

Mr Caw said one of the major issues raised by patrons last year was the lack of shade.

He said they were already working on construction large shade structures that would cater for 3000 to 4000 people.

He said more water stations and changes to security and cleaning contractors also were being investigated.

Mr Lovett said they also would have better signage around the site for patrons.

“We had 90,000 litres of water available but unless patrons knew where it was, it was useless. We need better signage to direct people to that.

“It’s about tweaking things to get it better,” Mr Lovett said.