NYE Waterfront show punters to have to pay for the first time due to line-up, COVID-19 precautions
THE Darwin Waterfront is charging an entry fee for its historically free New Year’s Eve event this year to accommodate its ‘biggest line-up ever’ and to facilitate COVID-19 precautions.
Northern Territory
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DARWIN Waterfront is charging an entry fee for its historically free New Year’s Eve event to accommodate its “biggest line-up ever” and to facilitate COVID-19 precautions.
Tickets to the much-anticipated event are $20 per person, and free for children under five years old.
The event will be held in a closed-off space which includes the Recreation Lagoon and Peninsula Lawns.
This year the line-up includes Paw Patrol, Sheppard, Jordan Ravi, internationally-acclaimed Victorian singer Tones and I and two firework shows. A public bar and food outlets will also be available.
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Darwin Waterfront Corporation general manager Samuel Burke said the fee was necessary to cover the costs of the event within COVID-19 precautions.
“The safety of our visitors is of the most importance, and to safely facilitate this style of event within COVID-19 precautions this will be a closed event with registration essential,” he said.
“Registration is essential to understand capacity, facilitate contact tracing and to comply with our COVID plan established with the Chief Health Officer.”
Up to 7000 people are anticipated at the event, and Mr Burke said access would be monitored.
“Registration allows our guests access to the Waterfront Event Space at any time throughout the evening at set checkpoints, which will be monitored at all times,” he said. “No registration or access is available for walk-ins on the evening of the event.”
He said the quality of the event justified the fee. The ticket pricing … was established based on the quality and extent of the entertainment and to facilitate COVID requirements for this larger-scale event, based on 1.5m per person within the capacity of the Waterfront Event Space,” he said.
“Guests must register and pay for the entire event, even if they only intend on staying for part, given our limited capacity and need to ensure that registrations will convert to genuine attendance at a new and bigger concert style event. We believe that even if you visit for part of the event, the price point and quality of entertainment provides great value for money.”
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Territorians had mixed reactions to the fee on a post by Darwin Waterfront, with some saying the costs were not family friendly.
“Done. But that ‘small cover charge’ is going to be cost prohibitive for some families,” wrote Jenna Carey.
“Pretty rude, when it’s been free for so long,” wrote Kim Roberts.
“This could be rather costly for families,” wrote Michelle Armstrong.
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