FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, 16 MARCH 2012

Roll on Summerfest 2013

The overwhelming support and positive feedback from festival goers has meant that Summerfest has got the big tick to become an annual feature on Tauranga’s events’ calendar.

Creative Tauranga’s Chief Executive, Tracey Rudduck-Gudsell, said the strong levels of support from across the wider Tauranga community made the decision to get on with organising Summerfest 2013 an easy one.

“It seems we got the formula just right,” said Ms Rudduck-Gudsell. “Showcasing the diversity of our local performing artists, making it an alcohol-free family event, providing fun carnival rides and activities, having a range of quality food and public amenities, and keeping the ticket pricing affordable – all these things worked together to create the magic of Summerfest.”

Tauranga turned on a picture-perfect, sunny Bay of Plenty summer’s day for the crowd of over 10,500 people. With two stages pumping out non-stop sounds all day, the promise of ‘hot sounds’ and ‘cool vibes’ was definitely delivered on. Hip hop, R ‘n’ B, rock, alternative, pop, and folk – Summerfest served up something for everyone. The variety in the line-up of local talent was impressive with individual artists, bands, cultural performances and dance crews taking to the stage for the inaugural extravaganza. And, if social media sites Facebook and Twitter were anything to go by, the punters were not disappointed.

In the days following the Waitangi Weekend festival, accolades from fans have continued to pour in to the summerfestnz.com Facebook page. One happy customer posted: (sic) Hey Summerfest :) Everywhere I looked I was impressed!! The facilities were great; LOVE the water cooler centres!! I felt confident for the kids to walk around together knowing there was no alcohol-affected behaviour likely to occur. I don’t think I saw anyone smoking even. The stages were great, the activities were fun, the variety of artists where we didn’t have to worry about the language or themes for our kids, the BMX shows and water slides etc… Fantastic stress-free day J Please have one every year!

Ms Rudduck-Gudsell was also delighted with the response from performers. “I think they enjoyed the day as much, or in some cases more, than the audience. Both Stan Walker and Midnight Youth were impressed with the professionalism of the set-up and astonished at the turnout from their hometown fans,” she said.

A post on Midnight Youth’s Facebook pages the following day certainly echoed those sentiments: (sic) “Amazing show last night.. we haven't played to a crowd like that in a long time, felt really good. Thanks Tauranga for having us..lots of pretty girls there too...”

“It was a first for our performing arts’ community to have this opportunity to showcase their combined talent to a home crowd. All of the artists were local Bay of Plenty acts performing their own original music. Summerfest is all about supporting the development of our region’s performing arts’ creative talent. It provides an ideal forum for up-and-coming artists to gain greater exposure to a local audience,” commented Ms Rudduck-Gudsell.

The 10,000 plus home crowd was a diverse cross-section of people. The alcohol-free rider on the festival was a huge draw card for families with young children, encouraged by the opportunity to have a day out in a safe, non-threatening environment. The targeted youth audience of 11 to 17 year olds turned up in their droves, drawn by the affordable ticket price and the headline acts. Everywhere you turned there were young people having positive fun.

Ms Rudduck-Gudsell got a huge buzz from seeing families, tweens and teenagers pouring through the gates of Blake Park from the moment the festival opened at 10 am. “It was great to hear all the positive comments from people as I moved through the crowds during the day. Parents were relaxed. They had confidence in their children disappearing off around the Park, knowing they were safe. Many of them remarked on how well-organised the festival was and how we had thought of everything. One of the nicest things to see was the generations out in force – grandparents, parents, and children all enjoying a day out together. There were also a lot of parents out with their tween- and teenagers. It’s not often that an event comes along where there can be something on offer that caters for everyone across the board. We had set off to strike the right balance and I think we did a great job of pulling it off.”

According to Ms Rudduck-Gudsell, the success of the festival came down to the efforts of Summerfest 2012’s event coordinator, Pip Buckley. “Pip deserves a huge accolade,” she said. “She had all the bases covered and, with the support of a fantastic crew of Summerfest volunteers, everything ran like clockwork. Many festival attendees commented on how helpful and friendly they found the volunteers – nothing was too much trouble. On behalf of Creative Tauranga and Tauranga Business Round Table, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to Pip and the volunteer crew for their outstanding effort. The input and logistical support from Tauranga Round Table Blues Brews must also be acknowledged.

One of the keys to the festival’s success was its affordability. Ms Rudduck-Gudsell said this was made possible by the significant contributions from sponsors – TECT, Tauranga Business Round Table, ANZ, Tauranga City Council, Creative Communities NZ, Pub Charity, Legacy Trust, TelstraClear, NZ-Central, St John and Coca-Cola.

Given the success of the 2012 festival, Ms Rudduck-Gudsell is confident about securing ongoing support and sponsorship from local businesses, trusts and large corporates to keep the event affordable for everyone in future years.

“Hopefully now everyone has had the opportunity to see and experience Summerfest, sponsors and local businesses will be lining up to be part of Summerfest 2013,” she commented. “Their ongoing support is critical to ensuring that Summerfest remains an annual feature of our Bay of Plenty summer.”

Tauranga City’s mayor, Stuart Crosby, was delighted that the event ticked all the boxes. “We set out to achieve two main objectives – a festival to showcase the rich diversity of our local performing artists that was accessible, affordable and a safe environment for young people and families.”

“As I wandered through the crowds, chatting with people, the feedback from many was that Summerfest is the type of event that they have been looking for in Tauranga for a long time,” said Mayor Crosby. “They all expressed the hope that the city would be able to host this festival, and others like it, into the future.”

Local food, beverage and entertainment vendors were extremely positive about the festival from both an entertainment and business perspective. One commented, “Personally, I think it’s something the Bay has needed on the summer calendar for a long time. It was great to be part of such a well-organised and –attended event.” And with the large crowds, the participating businesses were pleased about the boost given to the local economy with the strong sales results achieved by all involved.

One happy vendor, Michael Baxter, franchise owner of The Coffee Guy, even waived the tab for the festival crew and volunteers in recognition of all their hard work and effort.

Tauranga Safe City Coordinator, Michael Mills, “Feedback from the community has been overwhelming – they loved it so much.

From a community perspective, Mills believes that Summerfest hit the spot in providing the kind of entertainment and opportunity for which the community had been looking for a long time.

In the wake of the festival, Mills is continuing to see the flow-on effects and spin offs for the community. “Summerfest engaged so many community organisations and groups, both leading up to and on the day. With the support of local iwi, we were able to create a 100% Summer Without Substances community programme around the build-up to Summerfest.

“Over four weeks, we visited Mt Drury, Welcome Bay, Arataki, and Merivale with the Ngai Te Rangi portable gym and were able to promote the idea to families, kids and young people that you can have a really good time over summer, without substances,” said Mills.

On the day, Summerfest certainly proved the point to festival goers. Health promotion organisations were overwhelmed with the interest shown and the chance to engage with people at a grass roots level. From Mills perspective, Summerfest ticked all the boxes. “Summerfest filled a really important gap in providing a substance-free event for teenagers and young people. With minimal adult supervision, young people were having a great time and were perfectly safe in an age-appropriate environment,” said Mills.

Summerfest 2012 was such a resounding success that Mills put a challenge out to Creative Tauranga, “Have a Winterfest as well.”

And so, Summerfest looks set to be the way that Bay of Plenty residents can enjoy Waitangi weekend for the summers to come. “Bringing together the best of our performing artists on Waitangi weekend – I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our nationhood,” commented Ms Rudduck-Gudsell.

“I’m excited about the opportunities for future Summerfests. It’s going to be a hard act to follow but it’s the kind of challenge we relish – creating a world-class event,” said Ms Rudduck-Gudsell.

From her perspective, the success of Summerfest 2012 is probably best summed up in a telephone call she received from a 48-year old mother the day after Summerfest. The woman called to thank Ms Rudduck-Gudsell for the opportunity she had to party with her teenage daughters to Midnight Youth – one of those unforgettable family moments that she will treasure for all time.

For letters of support or to register your interest in Summerfest 2013 email info@summerfestnz.com

ENDS

© Scoop Media