Party takes over city street
Police were called in to babysit hundreds of well-dressed students when a Palmerston North race day party got out of hand.
The party filled the entire length of Ada St on Saturday, as students in suits and cocktail dresses gathered to party before going to the Boehringer Ingelheim Metric Mile Race Day at the Awapuni Racecourse.
Although the revelry started in the early morning, it wasn’t until just before midday that complaints started and a couch was set alight.
Student-populated streets such as Ada, along with nearby College and Ranfurly streets, have long had issues with couch fires, although they seem to have reduced in frequency over the past few years.
Massey University student and partygoer Harrison Ward, 20, said word about the party had been going around for weeks and every student in town knew about it.
Harrison and his friends suited up, ate a big breakfast to help soak up the alcohol they planned to drink and arrived about 9am to find the party already in full swing. ‘‘We’re just going to the races, having a good time and trying to cause no harm. I’m not a fan of burning the couches, but it’s a university rite of passage, I guess.’’
Ada St resident Mason Kurt Wishnowsky said when he and his flatmates woke up to the flood of students, they decided they might as well join in. ‘‘But they’re idiots for burning the couch because it drew the cops in and they put everything on lock.’’
A police spokeswoman said the first report of disorder came in at 11.15am.
Neighbours and members of the public started calling to complain about students spilling out of the party flats and drinking on the street.
The Palmerston North Fire Brigade was called in shortly after that, to extinguish a couch the students had hauled into a driveway and set alight.
Groups of officers walked up and down the street, reminding the revellers that Ada St was within the liquor ban area and they had to stay on private property with open vessels.
The spokeswoman said police got another round of complaints at 11.45am from frustrated motorists. Things quieted down considerably after the races began, and there were no further reports of disorder.
The party filled the entire length of Ada St on Saturday.