Festival labelled a fizzer

IT was supposed to be the party to end all parties, “12 action-packed days of free culture taking over the Gold Coast from 4-15 April to celebrate the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games”.

Instead, many traders and locals have rated the Gold Coast leg of the $30 million Festival 2018 a fizzer.

The Bulletin yesterday obtained “estimated figures based on crowd observation and crowd density” from Festival 2018 organisers.

The figures estimate more than 100,000 people in Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane and the Gold Coast have experienced the festival so far.

“An estimated 20,000 people attended Festival 2018 performances and events across the city (the Gold Coast) on Tuesday,” a spokesman said.

While the school holidays have ensured a decent turnout for the festival’s children’s events in Kurrawa Park, the park is usually packed with families at Easter.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said weather was a factor.

“Crowds were down the first two days due to rain, but now, with a lot more foot traffic throughout the precincts, I’m pleased with how people are responding to Festival 2018,” he said.

Despite strong turnouts for free shows by Yothu Yindi and The Treaty Project, The Great Australian Songbook, featuring Canadian star Peaches, and Troy Cassar-Daley’s Tuesday night set in Broadbeach, crowds have been disappointingly small overall.

Organisers say Festival 2018 Gold Coast has employed 1440 artists, “close to half” of them locals and more than a quarter of them indigenous Australian artists.

Locals overlooked by the event’s organisers say they look forward to the public release of the festival’s “cost per attendance” figures.

“We’re all waiting to see who got paid how much,” one local producer said.

None of council’s local trader organisations – Broadbeach Alliance, Surfers Paradise Alliance and Connecting Southern Gold Coast – were engaged as Festival 2018 partners, despite their track records staging dozens of highly successful free and in many cases awardwinning events.

“They could have shared what they know about ‘operational issues’, strategies around stages and site mapping,” one local stakeholder said.

“They are the people who know their precincts like the back of their hands.”

Official Festival 2018 partner NightQuarter, at Helensvale, was to have opened every night during the Games but announced yesterday it would close last night and tonight.

Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones said it was normal some events would be better patronised than others.

“You can’t judge the success of Festival 2018, a free event, on numbers alone,” she said. “This is about showcasing Gold Coast talent to the world.”