As perhaps 200 young people danced frenetically as Murdoch’s Crazy Eyes gave a dynamic performance, it was clear to see that Sunday’s Barns Green Music Festival was the biggest yet.
It is estimated that up to 3,000 people descended upon the village green for the free music festival during the course of the day and night.
but despite the overwhelming success of the day, organisers fear that the event is in danger of losing its spirit of a laid back, family friendly event.
This year it was noticeable that there was a huge number of teenagers at the festival. During recent years, word has spread amongst young people of how good the festival is - and that it’s free.
For such a large group of young people they were very well behaved, and there were no reports of bad behaviour, but nonetheless there are concerns that next year their numbers will grow still - and the village green simply would not be able to accomodate them!
Organiser David Grout said: “It’s certainly the biggest festival we’ve had here, by some considerable way.
“We are trying to keep it as a family event but we have attracted a large contingent of youngsters from outside of the village, from Billingshurst and Southwater, and there were a few problems.
“They were not getting alcohol on the site but they always seem to find a way of getting hold of some from somewhere.
“Apparently there were large numbers of kids walking back to Billingshurst after the event finished. They find a way of getting here but don’t think about how they’re going to get back.
“There wasn’t any trouble, but at the end some were just hanging around, loitering really, but being loud.
“It’s hard to tell them that some of the villagers are elderly and they wouldn’t mind getting some sleep after the music has stopped!
“It’s something we are going to have to look at for next year.”
David said that while it is obviously early days, one option being considered is to move it to another site with a larger capacity, or perhaps charging for tickets.
He said that the feedback he had received suggested people would be happy to pay for tickets to the festival.
David added: “I was talking to one woman in the village who took her two very young children along this year and she said that they had a great time. We like having families along and at the moment there is the room for them to come along and have a picnic.
“A worry is is how many (teenagers) could be here next year? It started off as 20, then 100, then 300 and so on - it goes up every year.”
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