Nest Fest: Hawke's Bay festival's 4000 tickets sold out months in advance

Nest Fest has been held at the Black Barn Vineyard Amphitheatre for the last three years. Photo / Supplied

Music festival Nest Fest is bigger than ever for its third edition at the Black Barn Vineyard Amphitheatre in Havelock North on Saturday.

Organiser Harry Pettit said it is pretty crazy how quickly the festival has grown, with tickets selling out about two months ago.

"We've doubled the capacity this year to 4000, so we've added a new stage down by the olive shed," he said.

"There was a lot of demand, and I'm excited to see where it continues to grow."

He said the majority of attendees come from out of town, with huge contingents travelling from Auckland and Wellington.

"The district definitely gets a lot of tourism through the event," Pettit said, thanking Hawke's Bay for hosting the festival once again.

Organiser Harry Pettit said there was massive demand for tickets which saw the 4,000 capacity sell out about two months ago. Photo / Supplied

"We struggle to find accommodation in Hawke's Bay to cater for even just all our working crew, because so many people are coming in from out of town and booking up all the Airbnbs and hotel rooms."

Read More

• Summer concert surplus in 'special' Hawke's Bay - NZ Herald
• Six60 lead singer takes to stage at Black Barn as band holiday in Hastings - NZ Herald
• Hawke's Bay's open-air cinema's incredible run: 16 years, zero cancellations - NZ Herald
• Festival drug warning: Testing group says MDMA substituted for 'dangerous' cathinones - NZ Hera...
• No drug-testing service on offer at Rhythm & Alps - NZ Herald

Given the fact Nest Fest features independent artists, Pettit thinks people come more for the overall festival itself than any particular acts.

"We try to push our vibe and energy behind it, which is very much kinda look out for each other, relax and enjoy your time, enjoy the sunshine," he said.

"Which is I guess a bit more peaceful take than some of the other festivals around the country.

"People come because the people are beautiful, the venue's nice, everyone's happy, everyone's positive, there's no huge queues at the bar and whatnot. At the same time, if they can find a new favourite artist that they hadn't heard of, then that's great."

He said although the Government pushed through urgent legislation to legalise drug testing ahead of the festival season, that didn't come quickly enough for any infrastructure or facilities to be put in place, which was a shame.

Organiser Harry Pettit said people flock to Black Barn for Nest Fest because of the beautiful venue and vibe of the event. Photo / Supplied

"At the moment it's quite dangerous out there with different narcotics," Pettit said, adding that Nest Fest bought multiple drug checking kits which will be available to attendees, but not at the scale they would want for the festival's capacity.

Meanwhile, the 17th season of the Black Barn OpenAir Cinema at the same venue has just come to a close, and organiser Urs Bloom said they were very happy with how it went.

"The event has again proven that it is a star in its own right on the HB summer events calendar and attracts locals and visitors alike," Bloom said.

"The weather was challenging, but our patrons dressed for the situation and joined us nevertheless.

"Although there was some light drizzle prior to the movies in early January, all sessions were dry, warm and the stars were out."

The season finished with a bang, as Ford v Ferrari attracted over 800 patrons. Little Women and Knives Out also proved popular, Bloom said.