THE Lucindale community is continuing preparations for the looming Triple J One Night Stand concert, which is expected to see the town’s population balloon by around 5000 people.
Yakka Park will be inundated with concertgoers on September 14 as the Hilltop Hoods headline the national music event which touches down in one regional community per year.
Accommodation providers are already reporting no vacancies around the concert weekend, which will generate tens of thousands of dollars for the Limestone Coast economy.
Naracoorte Lucindale Council has backed the international-calibre concert, with $60,000 plus in-kind support allocated to the Lucindale One Night Stand committee.
Over 1000 people are expected to arrive at Yakka Park on the Thursday before the concert, before a massive influx of over 4000 on the Friday ahead of Saturday night’s feature event.
Helping prepare for the weekend, Lucindale Lions Club president Peter Corrigan said everything was on track for the night.
“We are currently finishing a handful of infrastructure jobs such as lighting to ensure everyone is coming in and out of the facility safely,” Mr Corrigan said.
“We are used to having a large amount of people coming through the gates because of the South East Field Day, however because this event will be held during the night there has been a few changes.”
Lighting on the gates and high visual vests for volunteers are among a handful of safety measures introduced.
“The Lions are working day and night to make sure everything is prepared for the event,” the club president said.
“We are expecting around 250 caravans and camper vans along with 1000 rent-a-tent clients and roughly 3000 people coming in with smaller tents for the night also.”
Lions club members will also be exposed to Triple J’s ticket scanning technology to help keep track of concertgoers.
“People who have pre-booked their places will arrive at the gates and have their tickets scanned,” Mr Corrigan said.
“We will then supply them with a wristband so they can then come and go as they please.”
Mr Corrigan said the club had a “good bunch” of people working on the weekend’s event, partnering with council and the business community to ensure a “top of the range” weekend.
Lucindale One Night Stand committee member Kate Rayner said the community body was working hard behind the scenes.
“Everything is going well and it is an exciting time to have the community so involved with what is going on,” she said.
“Not only have we been working on the infrastructure side of things we have also secured a number of extra additions which will help the weekend run smoothly.”
A second Telstra mobile phone tower will be erected over the weekend to ensure maximum coverage.
“It is a great thing to have for the weekend because there will be people from across the country who will want to keep in touch with their families,” she said.
A number of complementary events have also been planned around the main concert to maximise its potential for the community.
“We will have a mini grocery store which was a collaborative idea between Naracoorte Foodland and the Senior Citizens Hall who donated the space,” Ms Rayner said.
“There will also be art installations throughout the town from local artists as well as food stalls and much more.”
While just two weeks away, Ms Rayner said a number of major announcements would still be made in the lead-up to the event.
“There is more to come that we have to keep under wraps for now,” she said.
“But the overall weekend is going to be fantastic.”
