Red cloud over events industry
Slew of events cancelled or postponed
AI wouldn’t dare to plan a new event for the next 12 months . . . a lot of people in the events industry are looking at changing careers due to financial losses.
Noddy Watts
fter the postponement of Whangamata’s legendary Beach Hop, now Thames’ new Hootnanny festival has also become a covid casualty as the omicron variant spreads.
Whangamata Beach Hop legend Noddy Watts says covid hit the event, entertainment and tourism industry so hard, a lot of them, him included, are looking for new jobs.
Noddy says it’s been a tough time for the events industry.
“I wouldn’t dare to plan a new event for the next 12 months . . . a lot of people in the events industry are looking at changing careers due to financial losses. To be honest, I updated my CV this morning.”
The Hootnanny festival was set to kick off later this month, but he says the event can’t be held in the red traffic light setting and has been cancelled. The country rock festival was to include three days of live music, a car and truck show and swapmeet.
“There are only 100 people allowed . . . and we can’t do that. We had no other choice.”
He says he hopes to be able to hold the Hootnanny festival next year and is refunding all ticket-holders. “But there are also (expenses) we can’t recover. It’s a huge financial loss.”
While Noddy is happy that the Kickdown motorcycle festival went ahead as planned, receiving “fantastic “feedback, he says the event still felt the impact of omicron.
“We were under [the number of visitors that] we were expecting. Usually, you get a lastminute rush, but we didn’t [and] unfortunately, there is no government support for that because the event went ahead.”
The Beach Hop Rock’n’roll Festival, set for March 23-27, has been postponed to November 23-27.
Watts says when the traffic light system came into place, the festival committee worked closely with Thames-coromandel District Council and DHB to find a way to adapt the festival accordingly.
“Despite our efforts, it just isn’t possible . . . (the traffic light system says) . . . if an event is in a public place where the My Vaccine Pass cannot be used, restrictions apply. Due to the nature of Repco Beach Hop 22 with car shows and events in public places, we can’t restrict entry to vaccinated people only.”
Those who have purchased vehicle entry tickets, etc, will be contacted and given the option to roll over the entry to the postponed November event, Beach Hop 2023, or can apply for a refund if they can’t make either of these events. Beach Hop 2023 is scheduled for March 22 to 26.