Wollongong City Council has acted quickly to allay local concerns about plans for the big Yours & Owls music festival to relocate to a new waterfront location at Lang Park.
Over the years, the locally based festival organisers have tried a number of venues, including Stuart Park, Dalton Park, and in October 2023 a big crowd flocked to the University of Wollongong for what was a hugely successful event on the weekend of the Voice referendum.
To secure the best possible line-up, the Yours & Owls team plan to stage their next festival on the first weekend in March next year on the lawns of Lang Park directly opposite City Beach.
Impressive line-up
The line-up of 48 national and international bands and artists has just been announced, coinciding with tickets going on sale. Headlining the show will be Fontaines D.C. from Ireland, Denzel Curry (US), The Kooks (UK) and Goo Goo Dolls (US). Popular Windang-based surf rock band Hockey Dad are also included in what is an impressive line-up.
Over the years the Lang Park site, located at the lower end of Crown Street next to St Mary Star of the Sea College, has been a popular location for major events. It was the finishing line for the UCI World Cycling Championships in 2022 and on Sunday, November 3 thousands of cyclists completing the MS Bike Ride from Sydney to Wollongong rode into Lang Park as they completed the journey.
Community consultation
Last week at a meeting of Neighbourhood Forum 5 (NF5), the group representing the interests of people living in central Wollongong offered its 'full support' for Yours & Owls in the city. NF5 did, however, ask that Council conduct "a full community and stakeholder consultation and appropriate planning approvals before allowing it to proceed."
NF5 suggested Council should identify at least one site in the city where "noisy" events such as Yours & Owls can be located in future.
Council proud to support Yours & Owls
In a statement, Wollongong City Council said it was proud to support event organisers Yours & Owls to deliver one of Australia's leading music festivals.
"Council remains in discussions with Yours & Owls festival organisers about a proposed event on the Wollongong foreshore and we are yet to receive a formal event application for this event at Lang Park or within the foreshore precinct.
"Any application would need to consider the conditions set out in Council's Foreshore Generic Event Development Application, and would require festival organisers to work with us and key state authorities to address matters like noise, safety and capacity."
Yours & Owls on the Wollongong Foreshore is being advertised for 1-2 March 2025.
