‘They need to pull their finger out’: Frustrated visitors slam Vivid Sydney Festival

FURIOUS spectators have branded Vivid another Sydney festival fail, saying crowd control was heavy handed and claiming long and frustrating detours meant they saw more building sites than light displays.

Some said the organisation was so poor they gave up and went home.

Friday was the first chance for Sydneysiders to get a glimpse of the mind-bogglingly popular Vivid Festival which sees major landmarks, such as the Harbour Bridge and Opera House sails, illuminated with projections.

But many were left seething. One festival goer, who had been forced by security and police on a meandering diversion in the opposite direction to where he wanted to be, bluntly said: “It’s a f**king mess.” Another said organsisers “had to pull their finger out.”

One spectator decided to leave before they had even seen anything: “We’ve given up after 20 minutes of getting nowhere and leaving. What a joke.”

Others were more resigned to the crowds, saying getting stuck in a sea of bodies was part of the annual Vivid experience.

The festival is on until June 16 and organisers have pleaded with festival-goers to consider attending earlier in the week, when crowds are less hectic, or even to give the popular Circular Quay precinct the flick altogether and head to other areas such as Darling Harbour or Taronga Zoo.

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Now in its tenth year, more than two million people are expected to attend with upwards of 150,000 spectators on the busiest days.

The first week of the festival is usually less crowded than the closing weekend rush. But just hours after the lights were switched on for the first time on Friday, so many people had descended on Circular Quay organisers were forced to put in place measures designed only for the busiest days.

The chaos began early with mass road closures snarling traffic. On Google Maps, a sea of no entry signs had popped up at 6pm. The motorist misery in the northern CBD is set to remain in place throughout the event.

‘LIVID AT VIVID’

But earlier in the evening, the pedestrian crowds were fairly free flowing with the Circular Quay transport hub fully open. But as the night progressed, people poured in.

Georgia Harte, from Castle Hill in Sydney’s north west, was in a huge queue for a harbour side bar: “I’m enjoying the atmosphere,” she told news.com.au. “But I’m still livid at Vivid. There’s something worrying about when there’s so many people.”

Camilo Rivera, who had come up from Melbourne, said, “It’s a bit stressy but at the moment it’s OK”.

‘HAVE TO PULL THEIR FINGER OUT’

But it didn’t stay that way. At about 8pm, as the early birds streamed out, security staff, some of which were labelled “aggressive” on social media, began shutting entrances to Circular Quay railway station.

Pedestrians right beside the station were forced on longwinded diversions, taking them several blocks away, just to end up back at the station.

“I am literally next to the station and they’re sending me on this ridiculous detour,” one frustrated festival goer told news.com.au, a barrier blocking his path to the train just meters away.

“Looking at construction sites and frustrated people is not what you want to do when you come and look at the lights,” a Sydney resident told news.com.au. “They’ve got to pull their finger out and do a bit better.”

“I appreciate your need for crowd safety but changing my 50m path to the train station into a labyrinthine 500m one with security fencing is making my commute kinds crappy,” said Holly Eades on Twitter.

“This is the worst traffic management at an event I have ever experienced,” said one frustrated spectator.

Others were more sanguine. “You take your chances with the crowds,” said Nicole Tully who had come up from Shellharbour in the Illawarra.

“It is a bit a of a throng, but it’s not too bad,” said Brontel Lewis from Bathurst in the Central West.

Dr Aldo Raineri, a health and safety expert at Central Queensland University, told news.com.au what can seem like a calm crowd can become something far more serious.

“There could be a loud bang and the problems occur when people are tightly packed in and they don’t know what to do and get anxious,” he said.

“The biggest risk is the crowd itself. The more people you pack in, the more problematic; there’s only so many sardines you can get in the tin.”

Destination NSW, the government tourism body that organises Vivid, told news.com.au: “Ensuring spectators have a fun and safe experience is paramount to festival organisers.

“As Australia’s largest event Vivid Sydney does attract large crowds. Visitors are encouraged to follow way-finding signs, crowd control marshals and security personnel and look out for the friendly Vivid Sydney volunteers in pink jackets who are on hand to help throughout the festival.”

The festival will be overseen by an additional 2000 plain and uniformed police, water police, sniffer dogs, and mounted patrol.

“Our main priority is the safety of the community and there will be a significant amount of extra police here across all the Vivid sites,” assistant commissioner Mark Walton said.

Holly Hearne, the Director of Corporate Communications for Destination NSW said this year additional crowd control measures were being put in place around Circular Quay, including one way walking routes, on the busiest nights.

“The one-way route increases the time it takes for visitors to experience the Light Walk, but puts safety of festival goers first,” she said.

TOP TIPS TO AVOID THE VIVID CROWDS

• Go early in the evening. If you have little ones in tow, experience Vivid Sydney when the lights go on at 6pm before the crowds grow bigger and kids grow tired.

• It’s lights on at 5.30pm at Chatswood and Taronga Zoo.

• Head to Vivid in the opening weeks to avoid the last-minute crowd late in the festival.

• Go by public transport. Leave the car at home (there’ll be road closures and clearways in the CBD and The Rocks) and take advantage of more than 6000 extra bus and train services during the festival instead.

• Ferries get very crowded, so avoid if possible.

• Head to different precincts. As well as Circular Quay, Vivid is also on in Barangaroo, Darling Harbour, Kings Cross, Luna Park, Chatswood and Taronga Zoo.