Wet Specimen in action on the main stage at this year's festival. Photo / Trent Williams
Wet Specimen in action on the main stage at this year's festival. Photo / Trent Williams
Welcome to Nowhere, the boutique music and art festival held annually just outside Whanganui, has sold out immediately.
Tickets went on sale on Monday, and the first music line-up announcement features Whanganui artists Anthonie Tonnon and Castlecliff Lights, and local ex-pat Gulls.
Festival curator Sophie Scott-Maunder said the 600 ticketswere gone in an hour.
"Last year it took about two months, so this is pretty crazy."
She said applications to perform at the festival had been opened up to the wider public for the first time this year.
"Every year after the festival we run a survey, and that was one of the things that was brought up - how do we offer that opportunity to more people?
"From an organisational point of view, when people applied we got all the information we needed from them straight away. We didn't have to go back and forth over email.
"Then we saw some bands that we might not have thought of had applied, so that's been really cool as well."
At this stage, Welcome to Nowhere will only go ahead under alert level 1.
Scott-Maunder said she welcomed the Government's announcement on Tuesday that Covid-19 vaccine certificates would be mandatory for those who wanted to attend large-scale events.
Last week festival organisers called on the Government to introduce infrastructure which allowed them to make sure patrons were fully vaccinated.
Only one person had asked for a refund due to that requirement, Scott-Maunder said.
"That's fine, it's their choice. We aren't forcing people to get vaccinated, but they just won't be able to attend.
"They can pick one or the other."
Former Whanganui musician Gulls is returning home to play the festival. Photo / Supplied
Other artists in the first announcement are Alice Agnes, Beacon Bloom, BEING, Dale Kerrigan, deepState, Destroy With Science, Egovalve, Grains, Jazmine Mary, Juno Is, Keepsakes, Merk, Mousey, PollyHill, Prove It, Sulfate, Violet Hirst, Waterfalls, and Wurld Series.
Aside from watching the bands, a lot of people were attending for the atmosphere of the festival itself, Scott-Maunder said.
"Being able to go there and hang out with your friends, experiencing something you can't do in the city, is something pretty special.
The festival features two stages - the Camp Stage and the Main Stage.
Festival-goers can also peruse art installations or take a dip in the sheltered swimming hole on the site.
Around 850 people in total (attendants, crew, and artists) will be at the festival over Waitangi weekend next year.
There will be poetry again, but comedy had been replaced by a variety show, Scott-Maunder said.
"We asked people within our core group to curate something they thought would be appropriate, and we've let them run with that.
"On the Friday night there will be a pub quiz, whereas usually we'd have a live-scored film.
"We're trying different things but the music and the experience is the focus."
In terms of growing the festival further in the future, Scott-Maunder said they were already running "pretty much at capacity".
"We enjoy the size that it is. If it got any larger it might become unmanageable and maybe even a bit dangerous."
None of the artists on the bill had withdrawn because of the vaccine certificate mandate, Scott-Maunder said.
"No one has contacted us with concerns about it, which I guess is a good sign.
"Artists want to play to audiences, and Covid-19 isn't going away, so it's just going to have to be the sacrifice you make in order to do the thing you love."
