Alcohol availability at Rhythm & Alps festival could be slashed by half

Festivalgoers at the South Island’s largest new year’s party, Rhythm & Alps, may be forced to slash their alcohol consumption after objections by police and health authorities to liquor sales.

The three-day music festival has been occurring for 13 years and attracts up to 10,000 attendees, the majority of whom camp on site in the Cardrona Valley.

Kiwi pop star Benee will headline this year’s festival, which includes about 50 musical performances across five stages.

However, police and Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand have objected to aspects of the festival’s liquor licence, leading to a last-minute hearing before three members of the Queenstown Lakes District licensing committee on Tuesday.

The authorities were especially concerned with the long periods of liquor being available – up to 16 hours per day – and the number of drinks sold to patrons in a single transaction.

Wānaka Senior Sergeant Chris Brooks said there had been very few arrests connected with Rhythm & Alps, but he wanted the number of drinks served to each patron reduced from four per transaction to two.

There were regular “hot meetings” between police, health authorities and the duty manager during the festival, during which time the number of drinks served could be reduced.

However, if they were making those decisions based on crowd behaviour, it was probably already too late, he said. If the number of drinks per transaction was reduced, “they won’t have to think about it”.

Police provided the hearing with a list of reported incidents from the 2021 and 2022 festivals, including two people climbing to the top of scaffolding, three sexual assaults, potential drink spiking, disorderly behaviour, and assault.

“For some, alcohol as a definitive cause cannot be determined. However, the actions described are not those of a sober person with all their inhibitions intact,” police evidence said.

Brooks said police had 52 officers working the new year period in Wānaka, including six at Rhythm & Alps.

“I think we need to go back to the core of the problem: large amounts of alcohol being served over an extended period of time,” he said.

Rhythm & Alps director Alex Turnbull said the festival had dropped the number of drinks to two per transaction at previous festivals, when required and voluntarily.

He proposed reducing the period of alcohol sales by two hours on the first and third day, and for the duty manager to meet hourly with police or inspectors, as a response to the concerns.

He was “immensely proud” of the festival, he said.

It provided food, free water, shaded areas, wellbeing spaces and on-site medical services and employed about 90 contracted security staff.

Festival security staff removed contraband from festivalgoers following car inspections and individual bag checks, he said.

However, people were cunning, and he had seen people drinking alcohol with straws from car window washers, mouthwash bottles, and shrink-wrapped bottles.

“If people are seen drinking a drink that is not part of the product served, then it will be removed. But yes, sometimes contraband does get in,” he said.

Rhythm & Alps staff were concerned that smaller drink serves would create longer queues and frustrated patrons, as well as increase the number of people going into Wānaka to “preload”.

If people were intoxicated, they would normally be sent to a detox tent outside the licensed area, rather than being evicted onto a state highway, he said.

Turnbull said there had been six or seven Rhythm & Alps-related arrests from the 130,000 people who had attended over 13 years.

Asked about drug testing, he said the festival provided information but was not comfortable with the capabilities of the companies holding the four drug-testing licences in New Zealand.

District licensing committee chairperson Lyal Cocks​ indicated the liquor licence application would be approved but with conditions.

The committee would aim to make its decision by the end of the week.