Any men attending the festival today and needing to use a toilet will have the choice of using a portaloo or the environmental friendly option of standing on a stage with a view across to Glendhu Bay and urinating into a line of hay bales on the ground below.
Festival assistant direct Josephine Gallagher said the festival had an ethos to reduce its impact on the environment ‘‘and if you think about all the chemicals that go into a portaloo, we are trying to subtract from that’’.
The hay bales were made from grass mown on the festival paddock site by Glendhu station owner John McRae, she said.
The Tuki festival is run by non-profit group Lake Wanaka SouNZ Inc, which was set up in 1997 and has been responsible for 10 festivals held at the Rippon Vineyard.
The Rippon festival changed its name and its venue in 2018 when it moved from the grounds of the vineyard to the eastern paddock and pine forest at Glendhu station.
Ms Gallagher said the Tuki 2020 festival would continue the tradition of showcasing all genres of New Zealand music, including a heavy metal band singing in te reo.
The "intimate family-friendly" music festival starts at 1pm today and tickets can be purchased at the gates, she said.
Ms Gallagher said children had not been forgotten, with a Vice Cream truck, entertainment in the Tuki Forest and a waterslide, badminton and giant games in the amphitheatre.
