Festival organisers gear up to welcome the masses
All across the country crews are working to set up tents, stages, bars, loos and campgrounds in preparation for the arrival of thousands of revellers. Mariné Lourens reports.
As most businesses and offices are winding down towards the end of the year, festival organisers’ operations are ramping up. There are a lot of summer festivals happening over the next three months – at least 50 – and pulling off a major festival attended by thousands is no small feat.
“It’s a 12-month operation with well over 500 artists, staff and contractors that make it happen,” says Rhythm & Alps director Alex Turnbull. This includes 180 artists, 60 contractors, 120 bar staff, 90 security staff and 180 volunteers.
Rhythm & Alps, which will take place in the Cardrona Valley at Wānaka from December 29 to 31, is one of the biggest New Year’s festivals in New Zealand, usually drawing crowds of up to 10,000 people.
This year’s festival features an impressive lineup of artists, including Kiwi pop star Benee, reggae legends Fat Freddy’s Drop, electronic duo Bicep, Australian rock band Ocean Alley and Kiwi hip hop group Home Brew.
Turnbull said although the festival grounds’ capacity was 10,000, which includes about 6000 campers, around 24,000 people are expected to attend the festival over the three days.
Setting up for the festival was already under way. “It takes us six weeks to build it and take it down. We are building a small city for 10,000 people.”
He said 17 food vendors will be there to “feed the masses”. On Saturday, the team hoisted what Turnbull calls “New Zealand’s biggest flag” – a whopping 112m2 in size – to welcome the thousands of festival-goers to the region.
After the events and hospitality sectors took a hard hit during the pandemic, Kiwis
are this year spoiled for choice when it comes to festivals over New Year.
Gisborne’s Rhythm and Vines (29-31 Dec) is a popular choice for those looking for a festive vibe. Or bass-focused Northern Bass in Mangawhai (29-31). Or Rolling Meadows at Waipara’s Bone Line winery (30-31 Dec), the High Life Festival in Matakana (31 Dec), Hidden Valley at Matakana Country Park (27 Dec), Hidden Lakes at Christchurch’s Hagley Park (28 Dec), or Love Your Ways Festival (29 Dec) at Waimaku’s Hunting Lodge winery – to name a few.
A Rhythm and Vines spokesperson said preparations for the festival were going well. “Stages are going up, Bookatent tents are set up, and the team are busy getting things ready for the best New Year’s possible.”
According to the official Rhythm and Vines Facebook page, the festival was expected to be sold out by Christmas.
On Thursday, Northern Bass organisers said that 80% of its total tickets had been sold, while Rolling Meadows organisers announced on social media it had “only 1000 tickets left”. The High Life Festival
said it was also tracking towards a sold-out New Year’s Eve event.
Turnbull said while the cost of living pressures were indisputable curbing spending habits, people seemed to still be willing to pay for entertainment – and this was reflected in the sale of festival tickets.
“People still want to go out and socialise. They might not buy the new car or pool or new pair of shoes, but they still want to buy gig tickets.”
Rhythm and Alps was on its way to selling out, he said.
Turnbull said while the pandemic meant a challenging few years for event organisers, the biggest challenge this year was “the bureaucracy on a whole new level”.
“Just all the bureaucracy with councils and compliance… But that’s fine, we are prepared for that and we’ve always been prepared for that. We’ve probably got some of the best systems and staff in intellectual property in New Zealand.”
All that was left to do was to cross his fingers for perfect festival weather.
“You can’t ever predict the weather, but at the moment it is glorious in Wānaka.”