Split Milk makes a huge splash!

VICTORIA Park came alive on Saturday as the music festival season got underway with Split Milk.

Artists from across Australia and around the world entertained thousands of revellers who came from Ballarat and right across the country for the event.

Jordan McPhan was one of the 20,000 people who enjoyed the day and was positive about what it meant for attendees and the city.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “It’s incredible for Ballarat. It’s kind of hard to describe the feeling of the day when you have someone like Illy, yelling out to a crowd of maybe 15,000 people and saying, ‘Ballarat, are you excited?’ and you’ve got people chanting back to him and screaming.

“It’s huge to have these kinds of acts in Ballarat and I hope they stick around for a day or two. We have this opportunity to showcase what an amazing city we have to these people and they have a reach so far outside of Ballarat.”

While acts like Tones and I, G Flip, Chvrches and Khalid were on stage wowing the crowd, City of Ballarat councillor Daniel Moloney was behind the curtain keeping an eye on the event with organisers.

He said he was “was incredibly impressed” with how Spilt Milk was run.

“It was well-organised with ample medical tents, emergency evacuation points, and extensive security,” he said.

“Even the finer details were well-executed. Festival attendees were able to text a mobile number to alert security of any problems or anti-social behaviour. This number was advertised on numerous big screens throughout the festival. Those little innovations were clever and made the day a successful one.”

Just like Ms McPhan, Cr Moloney said that Ballarat would be the big winner from the festival.

“The wonderful outcome of Spilt Milk is that it brings more than 20,000 young people to our city. And getting that demographic is gold from a tourism perspective,” he said.

“The crowd were well-behaved and it was great to see Ballarat buzzing with activity. So many restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and businesses were incredibly busy throughout the weekend.”

A police spokesperson also said that festivalgoers on the whole were positive.

Victoria Police reported that 21 people were given a caution or diversion for possessing a drug of dependence, while six were charged with possessing a drug of dependence. A further two were arrested for drunkenness offensives and five were thrown out of the event for behaviour issues.

“While police were disappointed to see some people thinking they need to bring drugs into a festival to have a good time and others take risks by drinking to excess, the behaviour by the crowd once they dispersed were well-behaved and respectful to the Ballarat Community,” the police spokesperson said.