Online 'ravers' pick Gathering
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The Gathering dance party's international profile is such that ravers on the world wide web have picked the millennium event as the third most popular place to be in the world.
The Gathering spokeswoman Alison Green said organisers had always fully imtended to hold a Year 2000 dance party at the Canaan site, "but because gear will be in such demand it is likely to be a million-dollar party and we still have to work out if it will be feasible."
However, confidence in this year's event is also high and 10,000 tickets to the 48-hour non-alcohol event are to go on nationwide sale in a fortnight. A further 1000 tickets are to be sold if demand warranted it.
Ms Green said support from neighbours had been phenomenal and organisers had few fears about their resourse consent application, which is to be submitted to the Tasman District Council soon. She said that discussions with public transport companies to take people to the site were continuing and preparations were well under way to staff a 24-hour "medical hospital" on site.
Detective Sergeant Derek Milne of Motueka police said he was also confident the event would run smoothly. "There has already been a high degree of planning undertaken by organisers in conjunction with us that has addressed past problems," he said.
He said this included opening the site a day earlier, alterations to the road and staging area and a greater use of public transport. Mr Milne said it had not been decided whether police would have a presence on the site.