The first Esplendor grass festival in three years has been derailed by wet and muddy conditions, with punters calling for the event to be canceled and campers evacuated.
On Friday morning, festival organizers announced they were no longer accepting campers or vehicles at North Byron Parklands due to the ongoing weather situation.
People arriving at the four-day festival yesterday faced 12-hour queues just to get into the campsite, with organizers having to extend entry times to try to get people into the festival.
Attendees are being re-routed to Byron Events Farm in Tyagara with free bus transfers between venues available.
Patrons with exclusive Flashcamp and Tent City luxury accommodation tickets and disabled festival goers are still accepted at North Byron Parklands.
“Thank you for your patience here and a big shout out to our staff working around Mother Nature to get you here safely,” read a message from organizers.
While the event is usually blessed with sunshine and clear skies, the current inclement weather has created chaos for festival goers.
Some have even called the three-day festival event “Splendor on the Lake” and “Survival of the Fittest.”
Conditions at the festival are rapidly deteriorating, and people are now calling for the event to be cancelled.
One Twitter user, Steve Strickland, described the situation as “potentially deadly due to the horrible weather conditions and traffic jams.
“People will get pneumonia and exposure. The festival should be canceled and everyone evacuated,” he said.
Festival goer Kate O’Hagan said she hoped event organizers would cancel the festival so she could go home.
“We’re parked by thousands of cars and tents that we literally can’t leave,” he said.
Shocking footage shared on TikTok shows the venue absolutely saturated with large pools of muddy water as the rain pours down, with desperate attendees in plastic ponchos forced to huddle under sheltered benches in a desperate bid to stay warm.
In a clip shared by TikTok user @montanakennedy, she captioned the nasty scenes: “We’ve progressed to splendor on the lake.”
In the comments people shared their horror.
“Total Fyre Festival vibes,” the user wrote.
“I’ll get in a canoe if I’m there too,” shared another.
“I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t been canceled at this point.”
The campsites weren’t much better. In another video, the tents were rained on, while the grounds were drenched in mud.
And more bad weather is on the way, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a 100% chance of rain on Friday and a high chance of showers on Saturday in the Byron Bay region.
Friday through Sunday, with additional events scheduled for Thursday, Gorillaz, The Strokes and Tyler, The Creator headline the event.
2022 is also the first year that Splendor in the Grass will return to an in-person event at Byron Bay Parks, after the pandemic restricted high-capacity in-person events.
The 2020 festival was initially postponed until October before being cancelled. The 2021 event followed a similar trajectory, however, with music organizers moving to an online Splendor XR format, which was done in partnership with virtual live event platform Sansar.
Rain to hit festival goers
Unfortunately for festival-goers, the weather is not ideal to continue. The municipality of Byron Bay is expected to be affected by wet and windy conditions throughout the festival. A high of 17 degrees is forecast for Friday with a near 100% chance of rain.
Showers are also expected to hit punters on Saturday with a weather range of 14-18C, before showers are expected on Sunday, with BOM forecasting mostly sunny conditions and a temperature range of 13-19C.
As it stands, sunny conditions are forecast for Monday, with a high of 19ºC and a low of 13ºC.
A severe weather warning is also currently in place for the Northern Rivers areas of NSW, which includes Byron Bay. The Bureau of Meteorology issued the surf damage warning on Friday morning.
An east coast low near southern Queensland is expected to produce “significant waves” of up to 5 metres, with the Bureau warning people to stay away from beaches, surf and areas exposed to the surfing
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