Hope Estate will host its own major country music event after the promoters of CMC Rocks the Hunter last week announced they were moving the annual festival to Queensland.
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While details about who will play the three-day festival are still unclear, venue owner Michael Hope told the Mercury yesterday that Hope Estate’s festival would be held on the original dates set down for the CMC Rocks event from March 13 to 15 next year.
The news comes after CMC Rocks released a statement yesterday that outlined the promoters’ reasons for shifting the festival to Willowbank Raceway in 2015. The statement claimed customer dissatisfaction around food and beverage options and concerns over the camping ground were among the reasons behind the festival being moved to Queensland.
Mr Hope said he was determined to put on a show for country music fans.
“We were getting a lot of phone calls from upset patrons and could see how disappointed everyone was,” he said.
“We are working now to have a country music festival here that weekend on those same dates so people who booked accommodation and flights can still use them.
“Ultimately I’m not happy that an event like this has been lost from Hope Estate, from the Hunter Valley and from NSW because it is very important for the local economy.
“It is a three-day festival that a lot of local businesses rely on revenue and patronage from.
“We’re looking to try and come up with a suitable line-up with some variety that country music fans will be very happy with.”
The CMC Rocks statement said “food and beverage was controlled by the Hope Estate, rather than the festival organisers and we were consistently receiving feedback via our annual festival survey regarding dissatisfaction of options provided.”
It went on to criticise the camping area, saying “the available camping ground was fully utilised and less than ideal given the limited flat ground available, particularly under wet conditions.”
Mr Hope refuted CMC Rock’s claims about the food and beverage options and the camping ground, and said he was only told the day before the official announcement that the festival would not be returning to the Hunter.
“NSW has a requirement at festivals that only mid-strength beers and spirits are made available as well as wine,” he said.
“We provide the full range of beverages that the liquor licences allow.
“We don’t allow BYO food or drink because what the promoter fails to say in their statement is the only revenue we make is from food and beverages, we don’t make a cent out of ticket sales.
“We have a big variety of food available, we have sausage and steak sandwiches, local restaurant stores, coffee vans, ice cream vans.
“As for the camping, we had an approval for 5000 campers.
“Last year we had only 3800 which was the biggest number of campers we’ve ever had.”
The CMC Rocks statement also cites lack of transport and reasonably priced accommodation as reasons for the move.
Mr Hope said he was surprised to see the concerns raised after it was announced the event had been moved.
“There was no discussion held prior to me being advised the event was going,” he said.
“I’m not happy at all, I feel the Hunter Valley and Hope Estate have been made scapegoats for the cold-hearted decision of promoters to move the event after telling the venue and patrons for the last six months that it would be held here.”
Many outraged punters voiced their anger on the CMC Rocks Facebook page, annoyed that they had already booked accommodation in the Hunter for the festival.
