By Jono Hutchison
Financial troubles forced the Big Day Out to announce its event earlier this month would be the last to be held in New Zealand.
But another music festival in Hamilton says its future is still bright.
Despite the weak economy, Parachute organisers opened their gates to struggling families this year offering them entry for whatever they can
Eleven year-old Chloe Moore and her family have had a difficult time in Christchurch throughout the earthquakes, and money has been tight so when Parachute offered families a deal to buy tickets for whatever they could afford, they jumped at the chance.
"It just means that we're not going to have to struggle so much after this. And she wanted a t-shirt, so we could buy her a t-shirt," says her mum Anneke Moore.
The Christian music festival attracts around 20,000 people each year to Hamilton's Mystery Creek, and family tickets usually cost up to $470.
This year, around 1,000 families have taken up the offer of paying as little as a dollar.
“We knew it was risky, but we just felt like, we’ve got the capacity. A lot of families in our country are actually really struggling financially and we felt like it was something we could do,” says organizer Mark De Jong.
Earlier this month the Big Day Out music festival announced it could not afford to keep running shows in New Zealand, and this year’s was the last.
Parachute’s director Mark de Jong says he sympathises with the Big Day Out, but this will not be Parachute’s swan-song.
“People look at big events and think oh, it must make millions of dollars. The reality is it's hard, and that's always something we have to look at and deal with. This year harder than most, but we’ll get through it,” he says.
Mr De Jong says because Parachute is run as a charity, it has different priorities.
The festival says it probably will not run exactly the same scheme again next year, but it is looking for other ways it can support families who need help to come to the festival.
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