Big crowds, Summerfest breaks even

The alcohol-free event Summerfest attracted near capacity crowds, but there is little in the kitty for next year.

The event, held on February 5 at Blake Park, was organised to take the place of the popular Blues Brews & BBQs event.

Teenagers swelled the Summerfest crowd at Blake Park as they enjoyed performances by Stan Walker and Midnight Youth.

Summerfest is estimated to have cost up to $200,000 and with ticket sales reaching 10,000 organisers are expecting to break even.

Event organiser, and Creative Tauranga CEO, Tracey Rudduck-Gudsell, says the result is satisfactory.

“We are still working through it, but at this point we broke even.

“What we had hoped is that we would make a surplus to reinvest in next year – I don’t think we have much left in the kitty.

“But in first events, to break even is pretty good.

“It costs about $200,000 to put an event like this on; I think we got it down a bit in the end.”

The event, at Blake Park on Waitangi Day weekend, attracted crowds of more than 10,000 people with ticket prices at $10 for adults and $5 for children aged between five and 14 years.

“We anticipated we would get a good crowd and it actually went over the expectation for a first occasion. I was aiming for 10,000; my crew were probably aiming for 5000.”

The event was funded through charitable organisations, including large donations from TECT, Legacy Funerals and Pub Charity, along with other sponsors.

Tauranga Round Table, which organises the Blues Brews & BBQs festival, put $20,000 towards the event, along with an additional $20,000 in manpower and resources to put the event together, says president Warren Bigwood.

“It is completely different to Blues Brews, it was more of a family orientated event; you could probably count on one hand how many people were there between 18 and 25.

Summerfest was a family-friendly event with no alcohol.

“It costs around the same. Our ticket prices were a lot higher so you could make a profit out of it instead of relying on grants.”

Tracey says it was a bit of a gamble making the ticket prices so low for the 12,000 maximum capacity event, but it paid off in the end.

Tracey says the event was aimed at a different market than Blues Brews & BBQs and was not intended to compete with them.

“We hit the target market that we wanted, which was the youth and families. There were a lot of teenagers there which was great.”

The event attracted New Zealand musicians such as Midnight Youth, Stan Walker and Jeremy Redmore along with local acts Aaron Saxon, Nine Mile Stone, The Deeds, Swamp Thing, Urban Dance, Joel Shadbolt and Porina.

“Midnight Youth said it was the best gig they had played in a very long time and Stan Walker loved it, saying he would come home anytime. We were very fortunate to get him.

“We are aiming to do another one; it will depend on funding and reinforcing it.

“We are trying to lock that down.”

The idea for Summerfest arose after Tauranga Round Table decided not to attempt to hold Blues Brews & BBQs this year.

Recent Blues Brews & BBQs events have struggled to acquire necessary liquor licencing and have sustained considerable criticism from police.

This year, Tracey says she saw the opportunity to create an alcohol free event that promoted local artists.

“We have had a cry from local musicians for a long time, and it is hard for them to have a venue or stage to showcase themselves, that was driving me.

“As well as the continual cry from our youth that there is nothing to do in the city and watching how families cannot afford to do anything these days.

“The difference it makes when there is alcohol involved, I have taken my children to events where there is alcohol involved and I didn’t feel like they were in a safe environment, and didn’t like seeing young adults so drunk and disorderly.”

Tracey says due to the amount of positive feedback she is looking to hold the event again next year, but it will depend on the availability of funds.

“We have had so much feedback from families and youth who found it affordable to have a day out with their children, which was the main aim and it profiled the talent.”