THE New Year started out with a bang in Swan Hill, with revelers travelling from around the state to join family and friends in the Mallee and wave goodbye to 2019.
Despite a last minute change to the fireworks venue, event manager David Storer said the night “ran smoothly”, with around 1000 people turning out to celebrate on the banks of the Murray River.
The location change for the fireworks was announced via social media on Tuesday night, with festival organisers, emergency authorities and council making the joint decision earlier that afternoon to move the launch for the 9.30pm and midnight fireworks to the show grounds.
The change was made to minimise fire risk, while still enabling the fireworks to be seen from Riverside Park.
The festival kicked off at 5.30pm, delivering live music, kids’ activities, food and a licensed bar.
Local acts Keg and Seven Car Pile Up also took to the stage, putting on a show for the crowd.
Mr Storer said the event once again delivered on its promise of a fun filled, family friendly and festive night, with attendees well behaved throughout.
“The whole event ran smoothly, everyone was well behaved,” he said.
“We can’t seem to win with the fireworks, but we can’t complain when our homes aren’t at risk of fire as they are in half the country at the moment.
“We were mindful of that and as we couldn’t do the fireworks on the New South Wales river bank the decision was made to move it to the show grounds.”
Mr Storer said numbers remained consistent on the previous year, with numbers peaking for the 9.30pm fireworks.
“We had just over a 1000 people come through…you lose a lot of the crowd after 9.30pm which is to be expected as families head home, but the night went really well,” he said.
“It is a great event, everyone was really understanding about the fireworks, they know we’re the lucky ones with the fires at the moment.”
