Byron Bay Schoolies events reduced for 2021 celebrations

Byron Bay police say they are prepared for an influx of schoolies despite there being fewer places for them to chill out if celebrations get out of hand.

Byron Bay is preparing to host thousands of school leavers albeit with no safe hub for young people to chill out at should they need a break from the party.

Each year, tens of thousands of young people — mostly from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne — meet in Byron Bay in late November and early December to celebrate the end of their schooling.

Victorian school leavers are expected to start arriving from Friday while NSW school leavers are expected to start arriving from December 4.

Tweed Byron Police District officer Detective Chief Inspector Matt Kehoe from said a number of specialist police teams were coming to the area including riot squad and mounted officers.

“We will probably have around 20 extra staff per week, and that’s similar in numbers with previous years, as we do supplement it normally with a lot of our own staff,” Chief Inspector Kehoe said.

Chief Inspector Matt Kehoe says about 20 extra police will be in Byron Bay for Schoolies.

He said police were not expecting this year’s event to be as big as the years in the lead up to the pandemic.

“I don’t think we can expect 10,000 schoolies in town each weekend, but I certainly think we will be seeing several thousands each weekend, so I just remind people to be mindful that we’ll have kids in town,” he said.

He said the biggest number of schoolies was expected to arrive from Sydney and some who otherwise would have gone to celebrate overseas.

“Our operation is planned between December 2 and December 13, over a two-week period,” he said.

“We still expect to see reasonable numbers of schoolies coming to Byron Bay, but with Covid and restrictions in place, a number of them cancelled, but because overseas travel isn’t really operating we expect a lot of kids come down during that fortnight.”

He said while school leavers would start arriving this weekend, the crowd wasn’t expected to be too big until next week.

“Accommodation providers have said to us the main time for Schoolies coming to Byron is from December 2,” he said.

Former Byron Bay Schoolies Hub co-ordinator Nicqui Yazdi.

No chill space for schoolies

Former Byron Bay Schoolies Hub co-ordinator Nicqui Yazdi said uncertainty over this year’s event made it impossible to co-ordinate the hub.

“It simply could not be organised,” she said.

“It takes a whole year to put together (applications) and would have been impossible to do the fundraising, especially if we had not been able to deliver and would have had to payback grants funds.”

A Byron Shire Council spokeswoman said the council was not running any events for Schoolies.

“Schoolies at Byron Bay is not an event that is run by council, however council will take the opportunity to promote Covid-safe summer messages, similar to what we did last year,” she said.

“The Red Frogs will have a presence at Byron Bay this year.”

Red Frogs volunteers Kevin Stickl and Bryan Klenkel help students of 2011 celebrate Schoolies safely in Byron Bay. Picture: Dominic Feain

Red Frogs NSW state director Claudine Alame said there would be no central hub for young people to chill in Byron.

“A team of around 50 volunteers in Byron Bay will be working over two weeks from December 4 to December 18,” she said.

“Wearing Red Frogs shirts, those volunteers will be roving the town working with different accommodation locations and camping grounds.”

Accommodation providers have seen a small spike in bookings for Byron Shire and the hinterland for the next three weeks.

Stayz travel expert Simone Scoppa said demand for Byron Bay holiday homes on the online platform remained high.

She said only 12 per cent of the 82 holiday homes the platform offered were still available for the week of November 27.

“While we cannot differentiate whether it is a schoolies booking or not, we have heard anecdotally from holiday home owners that all types of travellers have been booking for early December,” Ms Scoppa said.

Stayz spokeswoman Simone Scoppa.

She said bookings were slightly higher than years past, but December was always a busy season in the Northern Rivers.

“Byron Bay has traditionally been a popular top summer pick for travellers of all ages and group, so we don’t see any significant increase or decline in bookings for the region this December on the Stayz website.”

Timely reminder for partying teens

Local businesses are trying to understand how big the Schoolies season will be.

Lennox Head BWS manager Elisabeth Marangon said her store has applied “Don’t Buy it For Them” and “The Internet Remembers” signage ahead of the Schoolies season.

Ms Marangon said the signs were a partnership with the Drink Wise Foundation.

“They are to remind Schoolies that anything that gets posted on the internet affects their future forever,” she said.

“There is a QR code that takes them to an augmented reality experience and they can explore the dangers of what they post online.

“It’s pretty spectacular.”

She said the store had only been open since June 2020 and she expected a small influx of schoolies.

The project also reminds customers that anyone who appears under the age of 25 will be checked for ID, and that it is a crime to purchase alcohol for someone under the age of 18.

The Schoolies program has been rolled out in almost 250 BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores and more than 50 ALH hotels around Australia.