The festival could see up to 35,000 festival-goers attend the new site in the Golden Plains region.
When we said goodbye to the Pyramid Rock Festival all those years ago, we perhaps didn’t think our little music hearts could love again. But then we met Beyond the Valley – the boutique music festival that has quickly established itself as a heavyweight in the NYE camping festival scene.
Usually setting up in the beautiful scenery of Lardner Park over those last couple days of December, Beyond the Valley (BTV) has being host to an array of cutting-edge musical lineups and incredible festival experiences, ensuring punters rolled into the new year in the best way possible.
Now the festival organisers have revealed plans to move to a new Victorian home, under recent plans submitted to the Golden Plains Shire.
The key takeaways
- Beyond The Valley reveal plans to move location to new Victorian home just outside Geelong.
- The festival could see up to 35,000 festival-goers attend the new site in the Golden Plains region.
- The move intends to grow the event over five years, aiming to get to 50,000 punters by the fifth year.
Read our review of the 2019 edition of Beyond The Valley here.
Under the plans, BTV organisers want to host the beloved music festival at Hesse for the next five years. A rural locality in the Golden Plains Shire, Hesse covers an area of rural farmland along the Hamilton Highway between the towns of Cressy and Inverleigh and is located a 40-minute drive from the Geelong CBD.
“After successful operations since 2014 in its current location, Beyond the Valley is looking to further establish and strengthen its industry leading event with the ability for the event to continue to grow at the location now proposed as part of this application,” the plans read.
Known for its incredible line-ups, massive stage productions, and a solid festival atmosphere, the festival could see up to 35,000 festival-goers attend the new site in the Golden Plains region if approved, injecting $30M into the local region it its first year.
Under the new application, the festival reveals a huge potential for growth with the number of tickets made available to gradually increase each year to 2026 when it will max out at 50,000 patrons. This year the event would aim to make 35,000 tickets available.
The proposal will allow the music and arts festival to be held commencing on Friday 28 December 2022 with entertainment concluding in the morning of 1 January 2023.
Alongside the clear economic benefit for the region itself, the festival will also “employ up to approximately 400 staff (including a large number of local skilled contractors) for the preparation and pack down on a roster basis, with the total number of staff during the operation of the event being 5,250 and operating on a roster basis.”
Local contractors will be encouraged to tender for services associated with the festival, and where possible, preference will be given to local contractors within the municipality.
“Accordingly, staff members will remain a combination of both local and non-local to the area.”
The report also states that the proposed site is strategically located sufficiently far away enough from any residentially zoned land to minimise any disturbance to sensitive uses yet is sufficiently proximate to the localities of Inverleigh and Cressy such that economic benefits of hosting an event of this nature will flow to those communities for the duration of the festival and beyond.
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These plans come fresh off the back of the festival announcing its long-awaited return as a 4-day camping festival this New Year’s Eve, taking place from 28th December 2022 – January 1st 2023 after last year pivoting from a camping festival to a two-day inner-city event at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, to accommodate for covid restrictions, and unsurprisingly, it was a roaring success.
Created by Untitled Group back in 2014, the largest independent music promoter in Australia and the masterminds behind festivals such as Pitch Music & Arts, Grapevine Gathering, Wildlands, For The Love, Ability Fest & more, BTV has featured the likes of RÜFÜS DU SOL, Tyler The Creator, The Kooks, Joey Badass, Bonobo, Jamie XX, Chance The Rapper, SchoolboyQ, Honey Dijon, Kaytranada, Stormzy, Mura Masa & many more. The 2019 camping edition sold out instantly.
Beyond The Valley’s meticulous attention to production, arts, decor and theming to compliment their world-class lineups has gained it much popularity and praise. Over the last seven years it has grown to be one of Australia’s largest music & camping events and a New Year’s ritual for many.
The move follows the recent move of Falls Festival from Lorne to Birregurra with organisers describing Pennyroyal Plains as a perfect location for the festival.
Stay tuned! We’re sure looking forward to seeing what BTV have got in store for their gigantic comeback!
Keep up with updates here.
