'We did the best we could': Splendor organizers defend decision after chaotic weekend
Splendor in the Grass co-founder Jess Ducrou said the decision to continue this year’s festival was not motivated by money, and organizers were “doing the best we could” under difficult conditions.
Key points:
- Organizers have defended the decision to continue this year’s festival
- Jess Ducrou says customers can expect refunds for events canceled on Friday
- Today’s passengers struggle through the mud to get home
Ms Ducrou promised the festival would “definitely” return in 2023 in an interview with Hack on Monday, after a tumultuous weekend in North Byron Parklands.
The 2022 edition is dubbed “Splendour in the Mud” because the festival venue was flooded and turned to mud by heavy rains on Thursday night.
This creates chaos for people arriving at campsites, who are forced to wait hours to get in or are forced to sleep in their cars.
Friday’s main event was later canceled amid fears more rain could destroy the already drenched festival, before the bill went ahead as scheduled on Saturday and Sunday.
“We are in a very difficult position,” said Ducrou.
“We have insurance, we could have canceled the whole event. So it’s not a financial decision for us to go forward.
“It’s more about considering how long it’s been since Splendor happened. The fact that so many people come to the area for it.
“And the fact is that so many people rely on and work for it.
“And it was a mixed bag, of course. Certainly not what we expected.
“There were some great moments.”
Ducrou heeded calls to cancel Friday’s main stage act, after he initially said they would continue “rain, hail or shine”.
He admitted telling festival-goers that events would resume on Friday morning was “probably not the right message”.
“We have new information from the SES and the weather bureau that there is a lowland developing near Brisbane and heading towards North Byron Parklands,” he said.
“Our first priority is to keep people safe. It was the right thing to do.”
He said customers would be returned for Friday, as would people who booked buses from festival sites on Fridays and Saturdays.
People have reported waiting six hours for the bus home on Saturday, with images emerging of the large crowds huddled at the bus station into the wee hours of the night.
Ms Ducrou said that information only reached the organizers “after the fact”, and that some of the buses booked by the festival did not turn up as planned.
“I think some of the drivers got sick,” he said. “That’s something we have to deal with with the bus company.”
On Monday morning, the campers leaned on each other to get their stuck cars out of the muddy ground.
“We really have to help each other out,” said Daniel Wicki, who traveled from Melbourne, about getting his car out.
“I’m a little worried the car won’t start.”
He said regardless of the experience, he would consider attending the festival again next year.
“If I can survive this Splendor in the mud, I can survive anything, so I probably will.”
Fellow participant Ewan Roxborgh estimates about “50 percent of the cars here need to be pushed out”.
“We’ve been talking to the girls on the street in the campervan and they’re pretty jammed up.”
Mr Roxborgh said he and his friends arrived on Thursday at 3pm to try and break into the camp.
At 3am on Friday, he and hundreds of others pitched their tents at the North Byron Parklands Day Car Park, which was turned into a campsite at the last minute.
“People just got stuck and there was no way we’d ever get up to camp, and this was the best we could have had,” he said.
Ms Ducrou said selling an additional 7,500 tickets on top of the 35,000 capacity from previous years was not to blame for the problems faced this year.
This is the first time Splendor has been held since 2019, after two years of being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You can plan, and we really overbooked in every way because we were expecting some impact. But you can’t do everything right,” Ducrou said.
“And I think the weather certainly affects the ability to get through it.”
He said the negative feedback on social media, including some saying they would not be returning to the festival, was worrying but “that’s how it is”.
“Definitely going back next year”, said Ducrou, despite rising operating costs.
“I think people will be very disappointed if we cancel. I think it will be very difficult for the industry,” he said.
“We’re just doing the best we can.”
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