How we kept our distance at BSH Island
Due to the recent epidemiological measures in Croatia, we were forced to postpone the premiere of BSH Island festival to July 2021. As unfortunate as that was, we decided to react and adapt and save this summer in whatever way we could.
We came up with an alternative event – Keep the Distance – which hosted guests from around the world and abided by all necessary health-and-safety measures.
The most significant measure we were forced to take was to cap the number of patrons in Noa Beach Club at 900, and a little over 800 people attended in total. In addition to capacity restrictions, the club was reorganised to increase social distance between patrons.
On top of that, we created an entry and exit protocol that was mandatory for all patrons, which included disinfection, the distribution of protective masks to encourage responsible behaviour, and logging temperatures and personal information for track-and-trace purposes.
Having to downsize from 5,000 capacity to just 900 left us with an operational nightmare
The peculiar specifics of the measures – which were introduced just one week before the now-postponed festival – were the biggest challenge we’ve faced so far, as having to downsize from a 4–5,000 capacity to just 900 left us with an operational nightmare.
Nonetheless, we are grateful for Keep the Distance happening and are thankful for everyone that came out.
We are already deep into planning for BSH Island Festival 2021 with numerous international partners, and will be announcing the first release of the line-up, along with the exact dates, soon.
Besides beautiful Noa Beach Club, we will be adding some extras that will make BSH Island unique in many ways. We can’t wait to reveal it all to you.
Drago Vukelic is CEO of BSH Events and founder of BSH Island festival.
Croatian beach festival to go ahead in July
Pag, the Croatian island home to the Hideout and Sonus festivals, will host a new electronic music festival in the second week of July.
Zagred-based promoter BSH Events hopes to attract around 4,000 guests to the debut BSH Island festival, which will take place at the waterfront Noa Beach Club from Thursday 7 to Sunday 12 July. The festival – which has been given the green light by local health authorities – will feature a dance-focused line-up headlined by Richy Ahmed, Paco Osuna, Honey Dijon and Artbat.
According to BSH, which has been organising parties in Croatia since 2013, the festival will comply with all “epidemiological measures necessary”. Both Sonus and Superstruct’s Hideout were cancelled earlier this year as the coronavirus crisis escalated.
Most clubs on Pag’s Zrce beach will reopen in the first week of July, while Noa opened its doors earlier this month.
The festival will comply with all “epidemiological measures necessary”
Tea Cafuta, speaking on behalf of the Zrce beach clubs, tells Hrturizam.hr the venues “have a detailed plan of compliance” with anti-Covid-19 measures that include limiting the number of people allowed in key ‘zones’ inside the clubs, temperature checking patrons, and installing disinfectants and sanitisers throughout.
At press time, BSH Island had sold more than 1,500 tickets, mostly to locals, although they are also proving popular with Dutch and Belgian tourists, according to BSH Events’ Drago Vukelic. Tickets are priced at HRK 250 (€33) for regular passes and HRK 550 (€73) for VIP tickets.
As of last week, Croatia had closed its borders to a number of its Balkan neighbours to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, though tourists from many countries are being welcomed in a bid to kickstart the country’s tourism-dependent entertainment sector.
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