Organising a concert, festival, or camp is a significant undertaking with much to consider.

New Zealand's biggest barbecue festival, Meatstock, is a two-day celebration of live music and barbecue. 

After a three-year hiatus in New Zealand, and a highly successful event in Australia post-COVID, the festival organisers sought to return to New Zealand with a bigger and more dynamic event than in previous years when it was held in Auckland. 

To accommodate the amount of festival-goers anticipated and required for a viable event, there was much to consider.

The venue needed to be centrally located and easily accessible to most of the population; Mystery Creek Events Centre, situated just 2 minutes from Hamilton Airport and within New Zealand’s economic Golden Triangle between Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton, met this requirement.

Additionally, for attendees travelling from afar, many visitors would require accommodation either onsite or nearby. The venue offers ample onsite camping with sufficient space and facilities for large groups, complemented by numerous accommodation options in nearby Hamilton and Cambridge.

The organisers needed a venue with extensive experience in managing large-scale events, capable of ensuring robust security, and offering visitors safe access to and from the site. Having hosted numerous events, most notably Fieldays—the Southern Hemisphere's largest agricultural show attracting over 100,000 visitors each year—the team at Mystery Creek Events Centre is exceptionally well-versed in handling such demands.

Meatstock utilised approximately half of the 114-hectare property. The Pavilion, Convention Centre, International Business Centre, and Gallagher indoor spaces were used for exhibits, vintage car and truck displays, cooking demonstrations, food trucks, and strongman, mullet, and beard competitions.

Outdoors, hundreds of BBQs dotted the landscape, ranging from low-and-slow varieties to fast-cook hand-turned skewers. Some were competing for the judges, while others sold high-quality fare to visitors. Numerous bars were set up both indoors and outdoors. The Viking village hosted outdoor activities, and bands performed on an impressive stage with the Waikato River as a backdrop.

Meatstock Hamilton was a huge success, attracting over 15,000 music and meat lovers over two days. The festival drew exhibitors and visitors from all over New Zealand and even Australia and is pleased to be returning to Mystery Creek on February 14 and 15, 2025.