News

WOMADelaide is set to become a smoke-free event as of WOMADelaide 2017.

In keeping with the South Australian Government health regulations introduced on 1 July 2016 which ban smoking from all outdoor dining areas, next year's WOMADelaide will be smoke-free, with smoking permitted only in two designated areas which will be located just in from the two festival entrances of Hackney Road & Frome Road.

The new legislation from the SA Government (see sahealth.sa.gov.au) focuses on protecting the community from exposure to potentially harmful tobacco smoke and increasing the comfort and enjoyment of outdoor dining areas for all patrons. 

For many years WOMADelaide has worked to guide festivalgoers who wished to smoke, to do so in ways that were mindful of other people’s comfort – away from KidZone, the front of the stages, food and bar areas. Over time this voluntary policy has become increasingly difficult to manage and this, combined with the new regulations and mounting negative audience feedback about smoking, has led to the decision that while the 2017 festival will establish two designated smoking areas positioned near the Frome and Hackney Road entrances for patrons who wish to smoke, all other areas of the WOMADelaide site in Botanic Park will be smoke-free.