Local music festival a huge success

February 1st, 2016
[by David Armstrong]

Stephen Evans (left) during the festival with his right-hand man Gilbert Ngatoro

A huge gamble by music enthusiast Stephen Evans paid off, at least in spirit, when a great crowd enjoyed day-long entertainment by local musicians at Riverside on Saturday.

More than 500 people spent part or all of their day enjoying the mild weather and friendly vibe at the Riverside Freedom Festival, which ran from 11 a.m. through till nearly midnight.

For Stephen, whose own band The Love Mafia was one of the acts, it was the culmination of several months of nerve wracking and stressful organisation.

It all began at a follow-up meeting to the Motueka Youth Summit, which was held last May as part of the Motueka 2030 activities (see our earlier story).

Verena Gruner of Riverside put forward the idea of the young people staging a music festival, given that Riverside was not holding its own festival this year. Stephen picked it up and decided to lead the initiative.

As the hard production details grew, he gathered around him some friends who contributed time and ideas to mount the event. On the day he also had a number of Wooffers helping out to ensure smooth running, such as looking after the car parking and gate entrances.

Stephen applied for and received $1000 from Creative Communities Tasman, which largely paid for the PA system. Admission charges helped pay an appreciation for some of the major helpers and, of course, the performers.

"For me it was an exercise in trust and belief, putting my hand up to mounting the event without realising how much detailed work would be involved, and not knowing if the finances would work out correctly in the end," says Stephen.

"But all the musicians were happy with the facilities. The stall holders did okay, and least they had some good entertainment to keep them happy.

"All the bands were of high quality, and many could have done similar gigs anywhere around the world. But I was particularly happy that many of our local younger artists had the chance to take part as well."

Not only were bands appearing non-stop through the day in the open-air amphitheatre, but there will also four performances taking place within the nearby hall.

Stephen says he is very grateful for all the help he received from friends, too many to mention. But he paid particular thanks to Gilbert Ngatoro, Ian Ramsden and Eugenie Piozin-Belloir, as well as young helper Bryce Furness with his creative ideas and assistance with the design of the poster. He also thanks Riverside for their cooperation.

Stephen expects that when the takings are counted and bills paid he will roughly break even.

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