Easterfest (previously known as the Australian Gospel Music Festival) was an annual three-day music festival held in Toowoomba, Australia.
The first festival was held in 1999, with a mixture of successful and unsuccessful events. In 2001, the festival re-focused by holding most events in Queen’s Park (previously, events were held in multiple venues throughout the city). Since the initial move to Queen’s Park, the festival has grown and moved back to multiple venues, including the streets.
During the Easter weekend, most of Queen’s Park and some of Toowoomba's CBD was converted into an event precinct, with venue and residential tents, stages and other attractions. During the event setup and packdown, most of Queen's Park was inaccessible to the general public.
In May 2015, it was announced that Easterfest would not be continuing in 2016.
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Tens of thousands of people attended the ticketed and free events during three-day festival in 2005,[1][2] and over 20,000 tickets were allegedly sold in 2006. In 2009, about 40,000 people attended.[3]
In 2011, Easterfest announced late Saturday night that the program in the main venue, Queens Park, had been cancelled.[4] The creek running right alongside the entrance to the Queen's Park venue, which had been the scene of major flooding earlier this year, became a raging river, making for a precarious exit.[4] Organisers confirmed the tent had partially collapsed but there were no injuries and everyone had been accounted for.[4] Police were closing off roads as the torrential rain turned roads into rapids.[4] Numerous cars were abandoned after they stalled.[4] Ricky Robinson, 18, of Petrie, who was camping at the site said it was like a small river going through the area. The water was up to patron’s knees in the moshpit as the US band Switchfoot played on, despite the deluge. The lead singer Jon Foreman was climbing up the support structures for the giant display screens. "He was crazy. He was drenched pretty much" Ricky said.[4] Thousands of people were scrambling through rushing water as they exited Easterfest.[5] Security staff and volunteers first advised people to head to the Big Top but that too was being flooded so many just headed across East Creek to the city and higher ground.[5] Police and fire sirens only added to the drama.[5]
En 2012, 20.000 personas asistieron al festival. [6] "El ruido creado por las multitudes y los bajos retumbantes en el Easterfest se ha convertido en uno de los temas más debatidos de Toowoomba. Kevin Farmer, un residente local declaró: [7] "La ciudad está dividida a la mitad entre aquellos que aman el festival de música y su ubicación en el centro de la ciudad y aquellos que quieren que se traslade". [7] El Sr. Schenk, coordinador, dijo: "Tuvimos al menos una infracción y trabajamos estrechamente con el ayuntamiento para conseguir que el ruido estuviera dentro del límite prescrito. El mayor desafío llegó el sábado por la noche, cuando teníamos tres o cuatro de nuestros locales funcionando al mismo tiempo después de las 10 p.m., cuando los límites bajan. Cualquier etapa estuvo bien, pero en conjunto estaban por encima del límite". [7] [8] Los residentes han establecido su propio tablero de mensajes para publicar sus quejas. [8] A raíz de la creciente popularidad del festival, los residentes han comenzado a cuestionar la situación financiera declarada públicamente del festival. El festival recauda subsidios financiados con fondos públicos sin los cuales los concejales del gobierno local dicen que el festival no sería posible [9] A pesar de que más de 20.000 visitantes asistieron al evento en 2012, Easterfest no tuvo tanto éxito financiero como se esperaba. [ 9]
Medios relacionados con Easterfest en Wikimedia Commons