Festival vibe fills city | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

International artists at this year's Raggamuffin festival are so impressed with Rotorua they want to come back for a holiday.

The fourth annual reggae festival has been heralded a success by organisers, police and the international artists who entertained about 30,000 fans at the Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday.

Mary J Blige, Jimmy Cliff, The Original Wailers, Maxi Priest, Ky-Mani Marley, Che Fu and The Krates, Nesian Mystik, 1814 and Sons of Zion kept the crowds entertained for more than 10 hours on a hot day. Police said they were happy with the general behaviour of festival-goers.

Raggamuffin publicist Sandra Roberts said she'd had great feedback about the event.

"It has been really good. Jimmy Cliff and Maxi Priest have said that they would love to come back to Rotorua for a holiday so they can do the activities on offer."

Tauranga's Sarah Watene came to Rotorua especially for Raggamuffin and said it was an awesome day. "There was a great atmosphere and loads of people."

Her favourite act was Ky-Mani Marley.

Rotorua 16-year-old Ngapera Nicholls also enjoyed Raggamuffin, most enjoying Kiwi band 1814. She has missed just one Raggamuffin event and said she always looked forward to it.

Rotorua area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said 43 arrests were made in Rotorua between midday Saturday and 6am Sunday.

"No arrests were made inside the venue, but 16 were made at the gates or immediate environs."

Six arrests were for breach of the liquor ban and three for drug offences. He said one person was wanted on an arrest warrant and theother arrests were for disorderly behaviour.

The 43 arrests included 17 for breaching the central city liquor ban. Eleven of the 17 were locals.

"Rotorua Police are very pleased with the smooth operation of the Raggamuffin festival, with the general consensus being that the crowd was the most relaxed and well behaved yet."

Mr Horne said the goal of the police had been to work with partners to ensure a safe and enjoyable event for all.

Every year police worked with organisers to identify what worked well and opportunities for improvement - an approach which had resulted in improvements every year.

"The festival organisers and key partners made the event more family friendly. Police made some adjustments to their planning, and the third factor was a maturing in attitude of those attending the festival."

Mr Horne said police were, however, disappointed some people were still not remembering key safety messages, particularly the importance of avoiding dehydration by drinking water and by consuming alcohol in moderation.

Police and St John ambulance staff dealt with a number of people who collapsed after drinking too much alcohol, he said.

Rotorua Events and Venues operations manager Crispian Stewart said the day went really well and Rugby World Cup observers were at the stadium watching the running of the event.

"They looked at things like parking and transport to the event and they were really pleased with how everything ran," he said.

Food and beverage manager Rob Prior said Raggamuffin was a great day with lots of drink and food purchased and a great atmosphere. "It always has a really good vibe," he said.

Rotorua weatherman Brian Holden said the city hit a high of 30C on Saturday, with hot temperatures all weekend.