Bay Dreams festival-goers' behaviour results in no arrests

The crowd was generally well-behaved at Bay Dreams festival at ASB Baypark Arena yesterday. Photo / George Novak

There were no arrests at the 2018 Bay Dreams music festival and only a handful of ejections for intoxication, a senior Tauranga police officer says.

Thousands of revellers poured into the ASB Baypark stadium yesterday to enjoy the line-up of home-grown talent as well several international artists.

American R&B singer-songwriter and 2018 Grammy nominee Kehlani was the headline act, and the other performers included DJ Snake, Machine Gun Kelly, and Big Shaq.

Senior Sergeant Mark Pakes, Western Bay of Plenty area response manager, said police were generally "very pleased" with the behaviour of festival goers.

Organisers expected a crowd of close to 25,000 for the main event.

Pakes said the organisers told police that crowd numbers peaked at just over 24,000.

Security was tight and there was heavy traffic management in and around the venue.

"There were a handful of evictions by event staff for intoxication, however, these did not involve police," Pakes said. "Most people were in a great mood and this made it a positive event for police staff."

In a written statement Bay Dreams promoters and directors Pato Alvarez and Mitch Lowe said they were "extremely proud" of how the event was executed this year.

"We set a goal of 25,000, and reached it, which means we were much better prepared overall.

"Police were very satisfied with the way the event was run, which is extremely important to us and the longevity of the brand," the two men said.

"With a heavy focus on traffic management this year, it meant the full crowd were able to leave within 45 minutes of closing. This is a major improvement on previous years."

Plans for the 2019 festival were under way, starting with looking for headliner acts.

Alvarez and Lowe said they aimed to deliver an even higher calibre of artists and production next year.

"We'd love to thank everyone for their support with this event. Claiming New Zealand's largest festival in under three years was an achievement we didn't see coming this soon. We're very grateful to every person who joined us at the festival, " the men said.

A Tauranga City Council spokesman said there were no noise complaints recorded yesterday.