Tent city ‘kicks off’

FRANTIC work began behind the scenes to establish the accommodation overflow option known as Footy Basecamp after Townsville was named as the host for State of Origin game one.

Leading the charge to deliver the tent city was veteran North Queensland event manager Jodie Kennedy, working in partnership with Townsville Cricket, the Regional Tourism Organisation, and the Queensland Government.

Ms Kennedy has a wealth of experience organising medium to large events, both locally and nationally, since founding Jodie Kennedy Event management 14 years ago.

“Townsville Enterprise contacted me as soon as the announcement was made for State of Origin and they asked us what the possibility was for a building a tent city for the event,” Ms Kennedy said.

“Normally we would have lots of time to plan these things but with the announcement only happening last week, it all happened really quickly.

“I got straight on the phone to all of our suppliers and found out what was possible.”

Within four days of starting work to prepare the Endeavour Park site at the Murray Sporting Complex, one hundred tents (with a capacity of 200 people) stood at-theready on Monday.

Ms Kennedy was very familiar with the Endeavour Park venue given her role as the event manager for the Townsville leg of the annual Groovin the Moo festival.

The field was rented off the Townsville Cricket Club.

Tents are being offered at $185 for one night or $285 for two nights, which includes transport to and from Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

“Each tent has two single beds, they’re a spring base bed, made up with full linen including a top sheet, bottom sheet, pillow, pillowcase, two blankets and a towel,” she said.

“We’ve got permanent toilet facilities on site and we’ve brought in a really nice shower block for people to use as well.”

Ms Kennedy said guests should feel assured about the security precautions in place.

“It is a fully fenced venue with a secure locked gate. We will have 24/7 security once the guests are here, and we’ll have police doing patrols as well,” she said. “We’ve got extra lighting brought in onsite for security purposes and there’s lighting in among the tents as well. “I think it’s really amazing that we can give people this memorable experience, so to be a little piece of that puzzle is fantastic.”

It is understood that only a handful of tents were booked by Tuesday morning.

But with plenty of people holding off on booking accommodation until they secured State of Origin tickets in the second offering, or sitting on accommodation provider waiting lists, Townsville Enterprise were prepared for a late surge in bookings.

To book a tent, visit townsvillenorthqueensland.com.au.