Alcohol ban extended for festival

Otago Daily Times

02-05-2025

The Alexandra Blossom Festival alcohol ban will now stretch to cover the Teviot Valley. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
A ban on alcohol being drunk in public will be extended in a move designed to provide police with another "tool" for managing antisocial behaviour connected to the Alexandra Blossom Festival and the Merino Shears competition.
Elected members of the Central Otago District Council voted unanimously in support of the change at Wednesday's full council meeting, where they heard from police about problems in recent years.
Police pushed for the geographical area of the ban to be extended as well as its timeframe and the council obliged.
The alcohol ban will now stretch to cover the Teviot Valley as well as the weekend after the popular spring festival.
At the meeting, Sergeant Adam Elder, of Alexandra, told councillors police had seen more alcohol being consumed over the period and that in turn had led to an increase in antisocial behaviour.
He showed a booklet of photographs depicting the sorts of scenes their teams had encountered in 2024 — highlighted, were the hordes of largely southern "car enthusiasts" travelling in convoy to attend "Blossie".
Sgt Elder said, at the school in Millers Flat, police encountered people urinating and causing disorder, and as a result the school community had opted to install security cameras.
Other people caused damage at the Millers Flat tavern, he said, while others posed a risk to other road users at Raes Junction and through the Roxburgh Gorge, by "standing on the road and drinking alcohol".
"We also had several serious incidents involving members of the contingent, which included an assault and threatening act with a weapon and an arson of a vehicle," he said.
While Sgt Elder acknowledged "the balance of the community" might find the policy shift to be restrictive, the "overriding goal" was "to mitigate the level of harm" caused by alcohol.
By Kim Bowden