Summer Social 2024

Background

Picture this: it’s the start of the summer months and you’re in the picturesque surroundings of Richmond, You’re enjoying friendly (ish) competition with your favourite team mates in the day, before letting your hair down courtesy of a selection of artists and DJs at night…

This is the essence of Summer Social – a sports, lifestyle and fitness festival bring together the worlds of music and sport with a multisport tournament, followed by a music festival. Making its return for the seventh consecutive year, Summer Social came back bigger and better than ever – the energy was ecstatic!

During the day, competitions in rugby, netball, and CrossFit were featured, as well as the F45’s Playoff. The festival area features an exciting selection of food, music and activations/sponsors, from the likes of C4, Jubel, Budgy Smuggler and more.

Since 2018, The Fair has provided full festival production services to bring Summer Social to life in tandem with We Are Ops – our sister agency delivering event operation and health and safety.

The multi-venue site, spanning across Richmond Atheltic Ground and Old Deer Park welcomes up to 8,000 attendees throughout the day.

Challenge

The consistent bad weather in the lead-up to the build created concerns about the ground across the site. However, by altering vehicle access and using our trackway contingency, we were able to avoid major ground damage.
This year’s edition had increased infrastructure but the same event format and build days as previous years. The site design was meticulously planned, considering factors including crowd management and strategically and equitably seating food traders. Scheduling also needed to be fine-tuned to bring this year’s event to life.

8 days on site
Health & safety management and consulting
Event liaison team chairing
Safety Advisory Group attendance
Event Safety Management Plan & other safety documentation delivered
Premises Licence application and the licence was granted
Event Liaison Team Chair & management

Results

Delivery

Event production & management during build, live & break
Supplier procurement and management
Operational planning and management
Budget management
CAD site design and planning
Supplier auditing
On site health and safety

Results

Over 300 sports teams came to play for day of fun-filled competition
F45 Playoffs returned for another successful year, with multiple teams representing their gyms
A range of different sponsors and activations which enhanced the experience for the audience
Excellent feedback from the client

“It was great to return to Richmond Athletic Ground & Old Deer Park with the wonderful Summer Social team, feeling familiar with the site and processes. New infrastructure & additions brought fresh challenges, but our meticulous planning ensured seamless implementation on-site. A highlight was seeing doors open, knowing that even though we had encountered challenges onsite, we had dealt with them efficiently and effectively. I left feeling proud of what we produced and couldn’t have asked for a better way to kick off the season.” – Louis, Production Assistant.

“Looking at the wider health of the industry, it was a privilege to work with the Summer Social team on such a strong event – my favourite events to work on are the shows with a specific culture built around them (whether that’s rugby, netball and CrossFit, recruitment, folk music or donk!) Both the client and the venue taught me some of the intricacies of producing a show centred around sport, which raises challenges you wouldn’t necessarily expect on a music-centric show… The relationship between production, venue and client relations, naturally, can make or break an event – Summer Social was a near-perfect example of what great things can happen if everyone works in unison! Thanks to the wider Fair team, OPS, Summer Social and Richmond Athletic Ground for making the first show of the year a success!” – Nick D, Junior Production Manager.