Mona Vale Road was a veritable carpark for hours on Easter Saturday, and parents, prams and kids took to the busy road on foot as traffic chaos reigned at the Easter Carnival at St Ives Showground.
There appeared to be no traffic or parking management in place as an apparently unanticipated number of attendees attempted to enter the event, which advertised walk ins and available parking. There are unconfirmed reports that tickets were vastly oversold for the event.
Ticket holders were turned away, or didn’t even get a chance to drive into the carpark, as St Ives Showground announced late in the afternoon the St Ives Easter Carnival 2025 was at capacity and to contact the organisers, Skyline Events, to request a refund. This is despite reports by families that the event was at capacity by midday.
Skyline Events Pty Ltd is a newly registered business. A spokesman for the business said exhausted staff had “barely slept” after a long day of issuing refunds. Ultimately they blamed “unforeseen circumstances” and more people arriving at its opening rather than staggering arrival through the day for the traffic chaos which affected several key access points in and out of the Northern Beaches.
Families took to social media and Manly Observer to describe at least one hour long car queues, being forced to park on Mona Vale Road with young children in tow (due to the car park being unavailable) and ticket holders dashing across the 90km/hr road, only to be turned away at the entrance.
For those who got in, the situation didn’t seem to get much better. Those who found a park and made it in described the event as an unorganised event and one they would never return to with complaints of no shade, no free drinking water, no hired toilets, extensive queues for food and overpriced rides and show bags. There were also reports of extensive lines at rides with some families leaving shortly after arriving.
Retail stallholders complained about their stalls being located at the back of the Carnival, with no access to foot traffic despite paying $250 to be there. Online, food stallholders said they paid $900.
“We all took a risk hoping for a good day,” one retail stallholder wrote.
“$250 for my little business is a lot to make just to cover stall fees before you can even start to look at making a profit. It was easy for food vendors as their prices probably covered fees in the first hour. By the time people paid for entry, rides and food, don’t forget the $5 drinks on a hot day, they weren’t interested or didn’t want to spend any more money on retail items.”
The event has been described to Manly Observer as, “Fyre Festival for Kids”, referencing the failed music festival organised by American businessman Billy McFarland and American rapper Ja Rule in 2017.
“Woefully organised to the point of dangerous,” one parent wrote of the show at St Ives on Facebook.
“Had there been any accident, emergency or threat, no one would have been able to leave, and ambulances and police would not have been able to enter. There were people with kids in prams dodging cars on Mona Vale Road. Thirty to sixty minute line up for each of the five rides. Same or similar access to food and drinks. No shade. Did not see a first aid tent. I’m not sure how this was allowed to take place.”
“We went, as a family with a 3-year-old and 9-month-old twins,” another parent wrote.
“My toddler was so excited to see the Easter bunny and go on some rides. We spent 15min in bumper to bumper traffic, only to be told that the entrance to the showground was closed and we would have to find parking elsewhere. People were parking illegally along the road, and we decided not to chance it and to just go home. It was extremely disappointing. Why are you selling SO many tickets when you know the venues capacity and parking situations?!”
“There was also no portable toilets provided,” another said.
“You needed to leave the show area to use council toilets and risk not being allowed to re-enter due to the event being at capacity. The 4pm circus show also never happened.”
As part of its marketing, Skyline Events (who is listed as the organiser on Eventbrite) promised a petting zoo, reptile encounters, circus show and fire performance, live DJ music, fireworks display, roving entertainment, LED light up stilt walkers, meeting the Easter Bunny, Spiderman and Anna and Elsa (from the popular Disney movie), dance performances and meet and greet with local firefighters. Tickets were priced at $20-$25 for adults and $15 to $20 for kids.
Skyline Events told Manly Observer they expected ticket holders to spread throughout the day, however, a large number attended the event much earlier causing long queues on Mona Vale Road with police eventually closing the entry due to safety concerns. Skyline Events also cited other events scheduled at St Ives showground, which led to the parking issues, as well as the unexpected heat.
“There were also a large number of walk-ins, who had not pre-booked, who also showed up in the morning,” they continued.
“There were a lot of parking spots available around the showground, and many people left which also created more available space, but despite our requests the entry to the showground remained closed.
“We know this caused frustration and disappointment, as a lot of people who had purchased could not attend.
“As organisers, we really intended to give the community a nice experience but due to some unforeseen circumstances, lapses occurred. A lot of people had a good time as well. They really liked all the performances, shows and fireworks. But we are totally with people who felt frustrated.
“We’ll be working with the council to address the matter and will take required action. We have already started processing the refund requests since yesterday and have already issued hundreds of refunds. Our team has hardly slept after a tiring long day to process refunds.
“We genuinely wanted to serve the community and really feel deeply as the day didn’t entirely turnout the way we wanted.”
“To everyone who couldn’t get in – we want to sincerely apologise,” they wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Manly Observer has asked Skyline Events a number of follow up questions, such as whether they could confirm reports 8,000 tickets were sold when the event was only authorised for 1,500, and will update if they respond further.
“Skyline Events had an approved special events application for a new Easter Carnival at St Ives Showground including food, amusement rides, live entertainment and fireworks with an event capacity of 1,500 ticketholders onsite,” a Ku-ring-gai Council spokesperson told us.
“Council is further investigating whether they complied with the terms of their event booking.”
For those seeking a refund, St Ives Showground has asked ticket holders to contact the St Ives Easter Carnival 2025 organisers at eastercarnival.nsw@gmail.com.
