Dragon Dreaming Festival has received multi-year approval from Yass Valley Shire Council. Photo: Facebook.
A regional music and lifestyle festival appears locked in until 2029, despite concerns about “unmitigable risks”.
The Dragon Dreaming Festival has been held at ‘Cooradigbee’, a property north of Wee Jasper village, since 2013.
In 2020, the festival was granted a three-year approval, which expired in 2024.
According to council documents, the application covered the festival, market stalls and food offerings, temporary infrastructure (such as tents, stages and marquees) and a campground.
Organisers lodged plans with Yass Valley Council (YVC) to run the event for five years, though NSW Police and the Local Emergency Management Committee objected.
They raised concerns about safety, the cost of policing the event and its distance from medical facilities.
At a recent extraordinary meeting, councillors voted to approve the event for the next five years, taking its approval through to 2029.
Three years had been recommended in the meeting documents, with Councillor Adrian Cameron moving an amendment to give the event a five-year approval.
“It would be most disappointing to be part of a council that loses such a festival, because if we do, I doubt whether we’d have any chance of getting it back into the Yass Valley,” he said during the discussion.
“I think we need to go five years [of approval] … the festival organisers need the surety of tenure so they can really promote and advertise this festival to a much greater extent.”
Another of the councillors to support the festival’s approval was Councillor Alvaro Charry, who was satisfied with the festival’s harm management policies.
He said the event was expected to bring in almost $1.2 million in trade or fundraising for local businesses and community groups.
“I firmly believe that we must also govern ourselves against adopting a nanny state mindset that overcompensates for risk,” he said.
Mayor Jasmin Jones, who was the only councillor to vote against the application, said there were “unmitigable risks”.
She urged councillors to consider a one-year approval for the event.
The site’s location meant there would potentially be a long wait-time if there was a medical episode, she said, and attendees (as well as emergency services) risked being caught up in a traffic ‘bottleneck’.
“What we are allowing into the Wee Jasper community and on the roads equates to the most dangerous circumstances in all of NSW for that day [if the event goes ahead],” she said.
Mayor Jones said risks to attendees were exacerbated by illicit drug use and that a “bad batch” could spread quickly through attendees.
She pointed to a 2015 overdose of an attendee, and 213 drug detections at a previous event, with police finding cannabis, MDMA, ketamine, methamphetamine and other drugs.
“Police estimate those detections were ‘a drop in the ocean in relation to the quantity of the drugs entering the festival,'” she said.
All present councillors, except for Mayor Jones, voted to support the approval. Councillor Cecil Burgess was absent.
Dragon Dreaming Festival was contacted for comment. The next event is scheduled for late September.
