Whangamatā's The Other Side festival sees good times and good behaviour

The first night of the Other Side festival at Joe's Farm was a success, the event organiser says. Photo / Nickpaulsennz

The small beach town of Whangamatā has been booming this week as thousands of people gathered to bring in the New Year.

About 15,000 people flocked to Joe's Farm for new event The Festival of the Other Side on the outskirts of Whangamatā on Wednesday and last night.

While one group of unruly teens ran rampant in Whangamatā, rioting and causing damage in the streets, Eastern Waikato area commander Inspector Dean Anderson said they were underage youths rather than those attending the festival which was R18.

In fact, overall he was impressed with the behaviour of those who attended the festival.

"The majority of attendees were really, really good, in fact it was good behaviour all round. There were a couple of arrests there but no real issues at all.

"The two arrests were disorder type matters but given the numbers that were there that was pretty good.

"The concert is R18 and the 18-and-above were fine. To be honest, the activities in Whangamatā started before the de-bussing from the concert."

Anderson said police were called to help manage the queues of people waiting for buses to the event but the matter was dealt with before it became a serious issue.

"A large group were there waiting a long time and some people were starting to get crushed but we managed to assist with spreading those crowds and getting them on to the buses.

"The majority of the people I saw walking through town from the concert were really positive, no issues at all. It was nice to see people could just enjoy themselves and then go home."

Promoter Clayton Spence at Joe's Farm, the venue which hosted the country's second-biggest New Year's festival in Whangamata. Photo / File

On Thursday, organisers said the first night of the two-day festival went off with "zero incidents".

But fire crews were preparing for what could be a big night on New Year's Eve as more people headed to the popular festival.

Spence said Wednesday night had gone "amazingly well" with "zero incidents".

"The biggest issue was people getting blisters from their new Doc Martens."

He said the crowd was amazing and they did not have any issues with people being too intoxicated.

"Everything went really well."

He said they had given out Panadol for heat and a few people had to be checked over by St John but for no major incidences.

There were no arrests on the first night of the festival and one person had received medical attention after suspected drug use, a police spokeswoman said.

Whangamatā Fire Station's chief fire officer Nigel Airy said the first night had been quiet for fire crews in the town and this was surprising considering the number of people staying.

Whangamatā town was bustling with many shops that the Bay of Plenty Times called on Thursday saying they were too busy to talk.

Supermarket shoppers were told that there was a 40-minute queue at a time and liquor shops in the town had long lines out the door.

Owner of Contain Boutique Dean Amess said it was "definitely absolutely mayhem" in town and everyone seemed to be having a good time, which was great for the town.

He said an influx of people was always good and events like this showed the town was "heading in the right direction" again.

"It feels like old times again."

He said everyone had been pretty good bar a few "disrespectful" people.

Port Road Project had experienced one of the "busiest days we've ever had", worker Milly Mirkov said.

She said there were some long queues to get a table and waits for food as the demand was huge.

They were consistently busy throughout the entire day, even out of peak times, she said.

She said after such a hard year, it was great to see the town bustling again.

"The fear stays in the back of your mind of Covid coming back."