Garden of Unearthly Delights blames vandals of toilet overflow

Organisers of the popular Fringe venue say they’ll beef-up security around toilets after vandals caused a “disappointing” situation on the weekend.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights has defended criticism of “putrid and embarrassing” portable toilets on Saturday night, saying a vandal caused the problem.

The venue’s co-director Michelle Buxton said someone had tampered with the outflow from the portaloos to the sewage system, causing an “overflow”.

The Advertiser approached the Garden as columnist Jess Adamson expressed her disgust at the state of the loos.

“The stench from the garden’s portaloos, particularly those closest to the entrance, was enough to make me gag,” she writes.

“They are putrid and embarrassing.”

Outside the Garden of Unearthly Delights at the Adelaide Fringe. Picture: Matt Loxton

“The smell of stale urine (and worse) was so bad I wrapped my jumper tightly around my face but still dry-retched.”

It was too much even for “beer-drinking young blokes” – not typically known for being too fussy – who instead moved security screens so they could pee elsewhere, but got a stern warning from the police.

Ms Buxton said it was “extremely disappointing” that the vandalism had ‘impacted negatively on our audiences”.

“We have increased security and cleaning to ensure this does not happen,” she said.

Gluttony, another big venue opposite the Garden that is also reliant on portaloos, said it had protocols in place to ensure “guests have the best experience possible”.

“On weekends (and sometimes during the week), we have one cleaner per toilet block or per set of toilets and those particular cleaners are allocated that role for a particular amount of time during their shift,” spokeswoman Sarah Abbott said.

Ms Abbott said cleaners determined when and how often to clean portaloos based on access and demand, as a routine cleaning schedule would be difficult to enforce with so many attendees.

“Our system is very different to other venues. One person per block, and designating people for that particular job,” Mrs Abbott said.

“Through experience, we’ve decided to instigate a process (that would) alleviate problems.

“And we’re always looking to improve every aspect of the park experience.”

A spokesman for Adelaide Fringe said he could provide further comment as The Garden of Unearthly Delights was an independently owned business.