Zenith Gathering, a three-day music festival that was held at AREC in Mudgee attracted praise and derision from attendees and nearby residents who battled it out on social media over complaints that it was disruptive and poorly organised.
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The Mudgee Guardian spoke with a number of festival-goers who said the festival was enjoyable but certain elements made it feel rushed and unorganised, while others greatly enjoyed the experience in Mudgee.
Max Kursave from Sydney said he enjoyed the festival and Mudgee's surrounds but was surprised that it was held so close to town.
"We had fun. But I've been to a couple of festivals in Australia and it was not the best one of them all. I expected it to be a little more... but it was good. Mudgee is nice, it's a good little place," Mr Kursave said.
"Quite often it used to be more like, in nature, more outside of towns - that's why they had to shut all the music at two [am]."
George Dwyer from Griffith said he felt the festival organisation was rushed.
"[The festival was] not what I expected, we normally have it in the bush - a lot less buildings around. It was fun," Mr Dwyer said.
"It's a bit too much civilisation for a party that is made for the bush. You could tell that it was thrown together last minute I think. It was really good, music was incredible."
Thibault Delavier who travelled from Wollongong had a problem with the atmosphere.
"It was good music, I really liked it, but the festival itself was - there was no festival vibe. There were fences everywhere, police everywhere, security everywhere...," Mr Delavier said.
Zenith Gathering event manager Aqua Verde said the festival was well-suited to the location and hopes they can come back to Mudgee in the future.
"From our perspective the event went well, the venue was well suited and AREC was very collaborative and provided great support with the venue related logistics as well as connecting us with local providers," she said.
"The patron feedback we have received so far was positive and enthusiastic. We had a few grumbles about the fact that the event was not BYO but that decision has already shown itself to have been the right one with no alcohol related incidents at all.
"The feedback from locals that have come to join us has been very positive and supportive and we got asked numerous times if we would be coming back for more events in the future because they would love to also bring their friends."
Ms Verde called out a handful 'concerning' run-ins with angry locals but went on to say that the vast majority of people they worked with were professional and friendly.
"There has been a couple of aggressive confrontations towards our staff by locals that are of concern to us. Although we were not able to find out what triggered it, the majority of the locals we worked with were friendly, curious and assisted us readily," she said.
"The crew that comes together for these kind of events travels from all over Australia. They are professionals and highly qualified in their skills. They deserve to feel safe going about their job."
Mudgee resident Vaughn Murphy, wondering what all the fuss was about, drove out to AREC to take a look for himself.
"I took mum for a drive, she's 98, and we pulled into the front gate. Lovely bloke there, I explained that I was taking the old girl for a spin and she was interested in seeing what was happening. He said 'go for you life have a look around'", Vaughn wrote in a message to the Mudgee Guardian.
"Well it was tent city, [a] few caravans and Kombi's, people walking around, we didn't get too close to the stage. But we stopped and chatted with a few groups. They were friendly telling us where they were from, how the weekend was going.
"One thing that impressed me was how clean the place was, no rubbish lying around like the fiend days. But I'm a musician and a music festival is a music festival regardless of the music played."
