Festival success attributed to location
Thousands flocked to Hagley Park to catch over 30 acts on four stages for the Electric Avenue music festival on Saturday.
The event drew more than 11,000 people in its second year, with organisers saying the location of Hagley Park was a key part of the event’s success.
Team Event director Callum Mitchell said the festival increased numbers by 50 per cent on 2016, which had an audience of 7000.
Most tickets for the event were sold out well in advance and more than 35 per cent were bought by people living outside of Christchurch, according to Team Event.
Mitchell said headline acts Shapeshifter and Shihad were the most popular for the crowd at the Lakes stage while Krafty Kuts, Chali 2NA and Pacific Heights were the favourites on the Parks stage.
Punters could take a break on a ferris wheel and hurricane rides between acts.
Police said the audience was ‘‘well behaved’’ with only a few arrests for intoxication made during the event.
Mitchell said the festival was expected to boost the local economy by $3 million, with an estimated 3000 bed nights paid for by event goers from out of town.
A suggestion by Mayor Lianne Dalziel and Hands of Hagley Park to move some events like Electric Avenue to the residential red zone would be disastrous, Mitchell said.
‘‘There simply isn’t the infrastructure or transport options to move 10,000 people en masse at the beginning or conclusion of each event.’’
The festival cost the company $1m to produce and Mitchell believed it would not attract enough numbers to be viable unless it could stay in Hagley Park.
He acknowledged events like Electric Avenue would impact the park but said some ‘‘wear and tear’’ might be a sacrifice worth making.
‘‘If you want a vibrant city with a range of accessible events, it may be we have to accept a bit of a trade-off.’’