Chaos In Hikkaduwa

A festival that went all wrong

By Vimukthi Yapa

It was a mob. People surged through a narrow gate, despite the security guards’ best attempts to stop them. This was not the scene of a protest, nor a demonstration. The location was the Amaya Hotel, Hikkaduwa, and hundreds of people were trying to get into the weekend-long party being held there — Hikka 2010.
Yet, chaotic as it was outside the gates, it was nothing compared to the chaos that raged behind the scenes. The Sunday Leader present at the event exclusively learned from a reliable source that the event was subject to sabotage from the very outset.
The saga began when it became apparent that the Tourist Board would not be hosting “Hikkaduwa Beach Fest,” having spent much time and resources in organising IIFA.
In lieu of this, a private company decided to hold “Hikka 2010” — a weekend long extravaganza featuring international DJs and dancers.
Early on, former Managing Director, Tourist Board, Dileep Mudadeniya contacted the organisers, asking them to change the event name, as it was already registered by Sri Lanka Tourism. This was despite the fact that the Tourist Board’s event was widely known as the “Hikkaduwa Beach Fest” rather than “Hikka 2010”, and despite a different logo being used. Accordingly, the name was changed soon after, to “Scintillate 2010”. However, their troubles were far from over. The Tourist Board began to express interest in getting involved in the event.
On July 13, a meeting was set up with Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena. Prior to this meeting, an official contacted the organisers, and gave them two options which amounted to an ultimatum. The options were either to expand the event — working with a supplier from the Tourist Board. It was further specified that a royalty fee of Rs. 3 million should be issued to the Tourist Board. The other option was to cancel the event.
The organisers decided to take the first option, reasoning that the event would bring much-needed money to the area, not to mention international publicity. However, it was far from smooth sailing. The Tourist Board was demanding that the entire campaign for the event be changed. They also wanted to divert web traffic from the website set up by the organisers, to the Tourist Board website. Further, they went as far as to call one of the sponsors for the event, demanding higher sponsorship fees, even threatening to bring in a rival company in order to cover the Rs. 3 million in royalties demanded by them.
Despite these difficulties, planning for the event continued. The Tourist Board even advertised that the dates for the event had been set, on its official Facebook group.
Then, just two weeks before the event, the Tourist Board inexplicably decided to back out. They set up a meeting with the people of Hikkaduwa, to inform them of this decision. Mudadeniya was absent at this meeting, being represented by Jeevana Fernando instead.
And the troubles weren’t over. The local stakeholders had one further request — that is, for a perahera to be held, to benefit the local community. The cost? A cool Rs. 1 million. They also wanted a DJ party with free entrance for the local people who could not afford the Rs. 2500 ticket for the main party. The organisers complied with the request. A perahera was held, complete with dancing elephants, stilt-walkers and fire-eaters. And after all, this was perhaps only fair considering the event itself would not directly benefit the town people, as the high ticket price barred them from attending the event.
However, as the Friday night party commenced things quickly spun out of control. Several locals, angry at the high ticket prices, swam across the sea and gate-crashed the party. Others swarmed the gates, and the security was unable to cope with the sheer numbers. Thousands entered the party without invites. Many of those who had paid the Rs 2500 (Rs. 3500 for a VIP ticket) left the party in annoyance at the crowds and went to rival venues like “Mambos” and “Vibrations.” On Saturday, despite more stringent security, crowds of people mobbed the security guards. So many got past that, at about 2 am, the ticket-sellers left in disgust. Brawls broke out, and the organisers were forced to shut down the party early.
In short, it was just one disaster after another for the organisers.
When contacted by The Sunday Leader, Mudadeniya defended the Tourist Board.  “We only wanted to get involved because the people of Hikkaduwa specifically requested our involvement,” Mudadeniya said.
He added that the organisers had used an event name trademarked by the Tourist Board. Accordingly, the Tourist Board had requested that the name be changed.
Mudadeniya added that the Board had done a feasibility check and realised they would be unable to get involved with the event due to time constraints. Accordingly, they pulled out. On the one hand, we have a private company wishing to hold an event which they thought would benefit the area, fill hotel rooms, and gain international publicity.
On the other hand, the Tourist Board claims that they were requested by the people to get involved. Both explanations perfectly plausible, and pointing to one fact, that companies which aren’t to the liking of the Tourist Board face an uphill battle when staging events. Which is a shame. There is, after all, nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.