A street fight in Nelson Bay was all that marred what was an otherwise tame and quiet New Year’s Eve in Port Stephens.
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Acting District Inspector Kristin Marshall, from Port Stephens-Hunter Police District, said crowds to New Year’s celebrations in the Port were lower than expected due to the severe storm that rolled through in the evening.
“The weather appeared to put a dampener on celebrations, especially after 9pm,” she said. “Crowds were largely made up of families. Everyone was quite well behaved.”
An extra 63 officers for a total of 108 were deployed across the Port Stephens-Hunter Police District on Monday for a New Year’s Eve operation.
More than half of that contingency was tasked to Nelson Bay, Acting District Inspector Marshall said, with police patrolling the marina, foreshore and immediate vicinity by foot from about 3pm.
The fight in Stockton Street about 10.30pm was the only major incident police responded to.
Officers used OC spray to subdue a 28-year-old man from the Central Coast. He was arrested and charged with affray. He will appear in Raymond Terrace Local Court on January 14.
Families dominated the foreshore as Nelson Bay experienced one of its quietest New Year’s Eve celebrations in more than 20 years.
The Nelson Bay celebrations attracted about 5000 people, down on previous years.
The decline in the number of party-goers, however, did not take anything away from the carnival atmosphere and spectacular fireworks which heralded in 2019.
Children and families featured prominently along the Nelson Bay foreshore and adjacent marina, marvelling at the 10 minute fireworks show which lit up the skies over the Bay from 9pm.
One regular said that the crowd numbers had been steadily declining since a series of unruly incidents some years ago, which also led to the cessation of the midnight fireworks.
Severe weather warnings and lightning meant that numbers were also down for the New Year's Eve celebrations at both TIlligerry RSL Sports Club and Kaurah RSL.
Anthony Watson, secretary manager of Tilligerry RSL Sports Club, said that approximately 1000 people attended the evening of entertainment and fireworks held on the lawns outside the club.
“The numbers were slightly down on previous years but the threatening weather conditions would have kept many families, particularly those with young children, away,” Mr Watson said.
“We managed to set off the fireworks 15 minutes early [at 8.45pm instead of the advertised time of 9pm].
“Due to the lightning we were under strict instructions from the fire brigade that it was 'now or never'. I'm glad to say they went off without a hitch and people went home happy.”
At Karuah RSL, a malfunction with the air conditioner in the function room forced celebrations into the main bar area.
“Luckily, we had booked a two-piece band, Bliss Bomb, who put on an excellent show for the 120 party-goers,” supervisor Michael Tissot said.
“I think the problem with the air conditioner plus the threatening weather would have kept some people away, but all in all it was a fantastic night. Bliss Bomb were well received, everyone enjoyed the celebrations and the night was incident free.”
Acting District Inspector Marshall said while it was good to see a largely incident-free New Year’s Eve, it was disappointing that message about the dangers of driving the day after drinking were not being taken seriously.
Her reminder about not getting behind the wheel of a vehicle after a night out came after a 31-year-old Wallsend man was arrested on Tuesday morning for high range drink driving.
The man, a red provisional driver, allegedly collided with two parked cars in Spinnaker Way, Corlette about 11.25am. He was taken to Nelson Bay Police Station for a breath analysis, which returned with a high range reading.
His license has been suspended. He was due to be charged on Tuesday afternoon. The man will appear in Raymond Terrace Local Court on a date yet to be determined.