Hop ’N’ Vine festival takes a hit but show goes on regardless
The organisers of the Southland craft beer festival Hop ’N’ Vine are going ahead with the event despite potentially losing $22,475 because of ticketing agent Ticket Rocket going into receivership.
The event had sold 572 tickets before Ticket Rocket, formerly known as TicketDirect, went into receivership on August 31.
Hop ’N’ Vine organiser Chris Montgomery said the event would honour those tickets despite the loss to the festival.
Last year, roughly 1200 tickets to the event had been sold, so the loss could be close to half the revenue, Montgomery said.
Although the festival would probably run at a loss this year, he hoped to sell enough tickets and bounce back next year.
The past six months had been driven by anxiety as the event had to shift dates from April to October, and as he watched other events struggle to be refunded by Ticket Rocket, Montgomery said.
Hop ’N’ Vine has a partnership with Hospice Southland and profits from the event go to the charity.
Hospice Southland community funding manager Kara Glover said it was another tough blow in a year that had been difficult for charities.
There were no job losses or pay cuts at the hospice this year, but it was feeling a financial impact, she said.
Hospice Southland had no grant money coming in and it had been forced to close its charity shops for eight weeks. Customers were now less inclined to spend given the financial climate.
The year had been difficult for everyone, but people needed something positive like the beer festival, which attracted people to the region, Glover said.
Hop ’N’ Vine organiser Kevin Downie said the festival would still like to be able to hand over a cheque to Hospice Southland.
The event had started attracting people to the region. But unlike the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival, which brought people down for a product, Hop ’N’ Vine brought a product to Southland, Downie said.
The event was becoming known in the craft beer scene, he said.
The tickets, which were sold at Stadium Southland, were now being sold through another ticketing company.
ILT Stadium Southland general manager Nigel Skelt said the stadium had been in contact with Ticket Rocket but had no time frame for when the receivership process would be complete.
Ticket Rocket was working with many stadiums across the country, so it could be a long process.
The fact that the organisers were planning to go through with the event was important for the region and Skelt called for people to support it.
Hop ’N’ Vine was one of the events that would be able to survive this year when others couldn’t, so it was incredibly important for the community to support it, he said.
The event will be held on October 10 at ILT Stadium Southland.