Thousands queue outside Adelaide’s Moon Lantern Festival after event reaches capacity

A review is to be conducted into Adelaide’s Moon Lantern Festival, part of the OzAsia festival, after thousands of people were turned away from the event in the city’s Elder Park on Sunday.

With the Elder Park location reaching its 25,000 capacity and South Australiam Police raised concerns about security risks many of those who could not gain entry headed to the northern side of the Torrens River or the riverbank footbridge to enjoy the fireworks and lantern parade.

Organisers have blamed the overcrowding on redevelopment work at the Adelaide Festival Centre, organisers have said.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese told ABC Radio Adelaide that he could not get into the popular event on Sunday, advising “it was a great success, an enormous amount of people did turn up and they loved it.

"But it's always disappointing when those that turn up can't get in or when it takes a long time to get in."

Lord Mayor Haese said the Adelaide City Council will be part of a review into the event, which has had problems with overcrowding in the past.

Adelaide Festival Centre Chief Executive Douglas Gautier said capacity was restricted because of redevelopment work in the precinct, advising “I express our commiserations and regret that some people weren't able to enjoy the parade last night.

"It is a popular event and (was) constrained somewhat last night by the redevelopment, so it meant that the site was smaller.

"Safety must come first and it did have a numbers restriction but next year we will have the site back to normal so the capacity will increase."

Gautier said Elder Park was still the best place to hold the event, adding “we just might need to push it down the river towards the Morphett Street bridge a little bit.

"The fact is we've got a great event that people subscribe to and we we will take those criticisms and those concerns on board so that next time we make it a bigger and better event."

In 2015, organisers underestimated crowd numbers by up to 35,000 with about 50,000 attending, which caused huge public transport problems.

Last year about 21,000 went on a cold Adelaide night, while wild weather forced the event to be cancelled in 2013 and 2014.

The Moon Lantern Festival is part of the annual OzAsia Festival which runs until 8th October. 

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