NYE celebrations embraced by Lord Mayor
Described as “spectacular with amazing views and a relaxed atmosphere”, the Lord Mayor’s New Year’s Eve party once again provided a venue which enabled the City of Sydney to herald in 2013 in fine style.
Fireworks were broadcast live across Australia and countries around the world. In the process, it delivered considerable economic benefit, estimated to be worth $156 million. Over 1,000 guests attended the party at the Sydney Opera House boardwalk including councillors, journalists and government partners, with the Lord Mayor acknowledging the $2.05 million in kind sponsorship and $100,000 cash support contributing towards Clover and friends’ big night out.
Rife with entertainment, food and drink the event cost around $482,000 including the set up of the primary broadcast venue, running the executive command post and staging the party. The City provided finger food for guests, catered for by the Sydney Opera House, while drinks were supplied by sponsors.
An invite-only event, all City of Sydney councillors were invited, along with media partners such as 2day FM and The Daily Telegraph, community groups and those who “actively contribute” to the city.
A spokesperson for the City of Sydney said: “The people at this party are just like everyone else around the harbour celebrating the new year … the crowd was diverse and represented people who do a lot for the community. It is not just for your typical ‘a-list’ crowd. We invite community representatives and people who are contributing to the city. For example our charity partner ‘The Fred Hollows Foundation’ and various community groups like the ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel.”
This year marks the Fred Hollows Foundation’s 20th anniversary. Over the past two decades, more than 220,000 Australians and 10,000 organisations have put their hands in their pockets to donate and support the work Fred Hollows began.
Monday night’s theme ‘Embrace’, developed by Creative Ambassador for New Year’s Eve 2012 Kylie Minogue, lived true to expectations. Many guests at the party used the New Year’s Eve app which sent free messages from midnight, along with lighting up each phone to join in with the fireworks display.
“On New Year’s Eve everyone wants to be a part of the event by taking photos and connecting with family and friends. The app allowed people to connect with one another more easily and join in the festivities of the fireworks with people’s phones flashing the same colour as the fireworks,” said the City’s spokesperson.
Leading up the 9pm fireworks, the Lord Mayor held a fully catered afternoon event for families whose children are disadvantaged or disabled, providing them with a chance to see the fireworks away from large crowds plus meet other families in similar circumstances, all of whom were grateful for the event.
Following celebrations, the next task at hand was the inevitable clean-up which began as soon as crowds started to dissipate and was run like a “military operation” involving a team of 353 staff who were deployed across the night, collecting over 48 tonnes of waste.
The City’s spokesperson said: “The $270,000 clean-up operation involved the use of 53 trucks, sweepers and compactors, 600 mobile garbage bins to support the City’s 600 street litter bins, which were filled with plastic bottles, food containers and food scraps. All waste collected was transported to the Eastern Creek Resource Recovery Park for processing, with 80 per cent of it recycled.”
The Lord Mayor’s Party venue was used as a media hub and an executive command post for the event, and was also frequented by the Nine Network to broadcast the fireworks.
