The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

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Ben
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The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#1 Post by Ben » Thu May 18, 2017 11:21 am

From The Advertiser:

Victoria Square will host the Alpine Winter Festival after the City Council approved its staging
Sam Kelton, City Reporter, The Advertiser
May 17, 2017 8:51pm

WINTER is coming to Victoria Square after Adelaide City Council approved the staging of the Alpine Winter Festival at the site in July, thawing a cold war between organisers and those hosting a similar event along the Riverbank at the same time.

The South Australian team behind the Royal Croquet Club appealed to Adelaide City Council on Tuesday night to move its Alpine Winter Village event to Victoria Square after its star attraction, an ice rink, was given to the Melbourne firm behind the popular Garden of Unearthly Delights.

The European-inspired Christmas markets were a huge success last July, attracting more than 150,000 visitors.

The Social Creative built the Alpine Winter Village festival in 2016 around the ice rink at the Torrens Parade Grounds, after it was awarded the tender by Renewal SA.

The government body this year, however, awarded the tender for the rink to the Garden of Unearthly Delights, forcing Social Creative to find another rink and set up a rival event.

At a city council meeting on Tuesday The Social Creative’s director Stuart Duckworth, explained ambitious plans to recreate the village on a bigger scale in Victoria Square.

Approved late on Wednesday, this means both events will run concurrently, with the village bringing in its own ice rink — set to be twice the size of the original rink — and a 30m toboggan slide to the centre of the city.

City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese said he was excited by all the different events that could provide something for everyone this winter.

“Council has approved an event in Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga and an event along the Riverbank,” he said.

“We look forward to working with the event organisers to progress these events.”

But not everyone is happy with the Property Council saying the decision to host both event is a “kick in the guts” for CBD property owners.

“I find it hard to believe that Adelaide could sustain two ice-skating themed precincts within 1km of each other,” executive director Daniel Gannon said.

“These onerous overheads make a challenging economic environment even more difficult before reversing past decisions to make it easier to operate in Victoria Square.”

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monotonehell
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Re: The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#2 Post by monotonehell » Thu May 18, 2017 11:57 am

I guess the Property Council spokesosaur didn't get the memo about how banishing the Crocket Club down to Pinky Flat hurt business.

But I'm confused over the article. There's to be two events of exactly the same nature, at exactly the same time, the original one on the Parade Grounds and another on Vic Square? Seeing how the same vendors operate at these events, it does seem redundant.

The Parade Grounds is a better location for this kind of thing, as the variations in landscape make for a more organic and interesting 'village'. Doing the same thing on Vic Square wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting in overall aesthetic.
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Re: The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#3 Post by Nathan » Thu May 18, 2017 12:13 pm

monotonehell wrote:I guess the Property Council spokesosaur didn't get the memo about how banishing the Crocket Club down to Pinky Flat hurt business.

But I'm confused over the article. There's to be two events of exactly the same nature, at exactly the same time, the original one on the Parade Grounds and another on Vic Square? Seeing how the same vendors operate at these events, it does seem redundant.

The Parade Grounds is a better location for this kind of thing, as the variations in landscape make for a more organic and interesting 'village'. Doing the same thing on Vic Square wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting in overall aesthetic.
It's the original one that's moving.

The Social Creative ran last years Alpine Winter Village at the Parade Ground, with a lease on the ice rink. RenewalSA has now given that ice rink lease to a the rival event run by the GoUD, which will be on the riverbank (presumably making use of the Palais barge, which is still sitting on the Torrens). Given that this new rival is right across the road from their original site, the Social Creative event has moved to Victoria Square.

Who the fuck knows why RenewalSA has ok'd and given the ice rink to a second near identical event, run by a Victorian company instead of the incumbent local. No doubt TSC took on a ton of risk to put on the original one, and once they've made it work, the benefit is handball to a rival.

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Re: The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#4 Post by SRW » Thu May 18, 2017 1:24 pm

Sorry Property Council, that argument is lost.

I also don't know how well Adelaide will sustain two nearly identical winter villages, but as long as the risk is taken on by the private sector I don't really care. Can't hardly say nothing's happening in the winter months now!

It's a shame though that it's not sort of coscheduled with the Cabaret Festival to create a critical mass similar to March.
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Re: The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#5 Post by Ben » Thu May 18, 2017 2:33 pm

I agree it is a missed opportunity not aligning with the cabaret festival but from my understanding they will have their own hub in elder park this year. Certainly lots of choice this winter which is great.

Happy for all these events in Victoria square to continue.

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Re: The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#6 Post by mshagg » Fri May 19, 2017 9:17 am

Lol @ the property council. Kick in the guts? I'll tell you what's a kick in the guts - residents of Adelaide constantly getting the shaft to protect the interests of rent-seeking landed gentry. Cry me a fucking river, Gannon. We can turn your tears into a third ice rink in the east parklands.

Fantastic to see stuff like this filling in the long, dark gaps in Adelaide's event calendar. That said, the decision to destabilise and potentially fracture what appeared to be a fairly well received event seems quintessentially South Australian.

Guess it's up to us now to show that we have sufficient appetite to sustain them both.

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Re: The Alpine Winter Village - Victoria Square

#7 Post by monotonehell » Fri May 19, 2017 1:15 pm

16:13: "I'll meet you at the alpine village tonight."
17:27: "Where are you?.. But I'm also near the ice rink..."
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