Co-founder of failed Grass is Greener Oli Frost is helping stage new Burleigh festival Bound
The director of failed nationwide music festival The Grass is Greener is helping out with a new one, weeks after his restaurant companies went into liquidation. Find out where and when
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The director of failed nationwide music festival The Grass is Greener is helping out with a new one, weeks after his restaurant companies went into liquidation.
Tickets for Bound festival went on sale this week, with promoters plugging an “enriching cultural event” at Burleigh Heads next month.
The company behind the Grass is Greener, Hand Picked Events and Marketing, went into liquidation in July, leaving more than $3m in debts to suppliers and unhappy ticketholders.
Restaurants linked to festival director Oliver Fines-Frost, also known as Oli Frost, and festival co-founder Jonathan “Johnny” Eddings are also in either voluntary administration or voluntary liquidation, carrying at least another $2.3m debt.
As well as running The Grass is Greener, Hand Picked also operated a number of smaller festivals, including Burleigh Fest, which ran in conjunction with surfing and surf lifesaving contests in September last year.
In 2023, a new festival named Bound is being advertised in the same location.
Burleigh Fest’s facebook event page has changed its name and profile picture to Bound Festival.
Domain registration records show Mr Frost registered Bound’s website, using the same email address used to register his restaurant businesses.
The website says Bound will be held at Justin Park between September 22-24, and invites people to “join the waitlist”.
“Introducing Bound! Celebrating what Burleigh Heads has to offer over three culturally rich days,” the site says.
“This enriching cultural event showcases this coastal destination at it’s finest, delivering a number of exciting and flavour-filled events that exude our core pillars and all hosted by local businesses.”
While Burleigh Fest was a free event, funded by sponsors and bar takings, the Bound booking portal listed early bird ticket prices for between $10.99 and $29.99.
The booking portal closed after the Gold Coast Bulletin contacted Mr Frost and Mr Eddings for comment.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of either Mr Frost or Mr Eddings, who were yet to respond to the Bulletin’s questions.
A Gold Coast City Council spokeswoman said there was “a tentative booking for the park” on those dates.
The spokeswoman said the council could not disclose who had applied for the booking or what the fees would be, until it was confirmed.
Meanwhile, a shareholder in the company behind Bound, Bound Events, was the largest creditor of The Grass is Greener company.
Bound Events has the same registered address previously occupied by the collapsed Hand Picked group and is directed by Jade Mulholland, 30.
In creditor meetings for Hand Picked, Mr Mulholland acted as a consultant to its largest unsecured creditor, DN Holdings, which loaned the festival $1.25m in the weeks before it went into administration.
The Gold Coast Bulletin has contacted Mr Mulholland for comment.
Shares in Bound Events are held by company 25Z Group, which has DN Holdings and JJSC as shareholders.
Contractors, suppliers, and other creditors from Cairns to the Gold Coast were told The Grass is Greener company gave interest-free loans to restaurants linked to Mr Frost and Mr Eddings.
Restaurants operated and/or owned by Mr Frost, including Maman and Naami at Burleigh, Luciana Tapas at Tugun and Milky Lane at Surfers Paradise, as well as an F45 gym in Lismore, were given more than $760,000 of the festival’s money.
The company behind Maman has since gone into voluntary administration while companies that traded as Naami, Lucia Tapas and Milky Lane are in liquidation.
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Originally published as Co-founder of failed Grass is Greener Oli Frost is helping stage new Burleigh festival Bound
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