Keg party coincides with mosque event
The Hyde St Keg party coincides with an open day at a nearby mosque, which is offering a ‘‘respite from the madness’’.
Around 3600 revellers have tickets to the annual keg party held on Hyde St today from 9am.
And just one street away, the AlHuda Mosque on Clyde St will be holding an open day from 11am.
Otago Muslim Association chairman Steve Johnston said open days were usually held later in the year to coincide with Islamic Awareness Week.
This year’s open day was bought forward to Neighbours’ Day, after a request by the Refugee Steering Group committee in anticipation of the first group of Syrian refugees arriving in Dunedin.
Johnston said the committee was surprised to learn the keg party would be held on the same day, and it came too late to change the date.
‘‘Hopefully they have quietened down a bit by then.’’
Police confirmed they would increase patrols on Clyde St as a precaution, a move welcomed by Johnston, who had extended an invite to emergency services
‘‘They can have a nice cup of tea and a liedown.’’ Steve Johnston Otago Muslim Association chairman
‘‘wanting a respite from the madness of the Hyde St party’’.
‘‘They can have a nice cup of tea and a liedown.’’
Issues around the student quarterbased mosque over the years had been minor, ‘‘but annoying’’, he said.
‘‘Recently a swing set in the front of the mosque was destroyed.’’
Flat themes for the party, which moved to a ticket-only event after a roof collapse in 2012, include ‘‘The Mile Hyde Club’’, ‘‘Golf Bros and Tennis Hoes’’, ‘‘GI Joes and Nava-Hoes’’ and ‘‘Hyde gone Tribe’’.
This week students were given a list of costumes to ‘‘avoid’’, included Bill Cosby, Arabs, Native Americans and Caitlyn Jenner.
The party was organised by the residents with the support from the Otago University Students’ Association.
Of the 3600 tickets, 1700 were available for students to buy, with the rest allocated to Hyde St residents, their friends and neighbouring streets.
An association spokeswoman said demand for the 1700 tickets was ‘‘unprecedented’’.
When tickets went on sale on Tuesday from 9am, the servers crashed after 9000 page loads per second, and 11,000 at 12.30pm.
Tickets were snapped up in less than a minute.
Glass and dangerous items were being thrown into skips on Hyde St on Friday afternoon, in preparation for the event.
Senior Constable John Woodhouse said ‘‘everyone is working towards making sure this is a successful event, and I’m sure it will be’’.
He was confident there would be no repeat of the 2012 roof collapse – ‘‘the only thing on a roof last year was a stuffed sheep’’.
Police would conduct regular patrols of Clyde St to keep any revellers away from the mosque open day.
A police spokesman confirmed police would not be monitoring the CCTV recently installed by the University of Otago to monitor Hyde St.