Half-price tickets will be offered to West Coast residents in a bid to lure locals back to the Wildfoods Festival.
At $20, the discounted adult admission is half of what it normally costs at the gate.
A local family pass for two adults and two children will cost $40, while children over the age of five can get in for just $5.
In a statement on Friday, the Westland District Council said the ticket adjustments came following a recommendation from the festival advisory group chaired by Mike Keenan, former Wildfoods frontman for over 20 years, as a way to "re-engage" locals with the event, which turns 29 in March.
After attending the last Wildfoods as a festival-goer for the first time, Mr Keenan later said a reduction in ticket prices was one of the changes needed to bring the community back to the community event.
"A Westland resident family pass for, say, $20 would reward the community at large as the owners of the event. Tickets are far too dear if we want to get back to having 10,000 to 12,000 festival-goers at the event. Bigger numbers mean a bigger impact all round, especially for fundraisers in the community."
He also argued that the council-owned festival should be handed overto one of the council subsidiaries: "That would give it more of a commercial focus and major sponsors would be more easily gained."
In another suggestion, he flagged that stallholder numbers should be revisited and measured against the number of festival-goers.
"Reduce them down so that they all have a successful day."
Newly-appointed Wildfoods Festival event manager Sarah Brown said the festival was still an important fundraising event for local charities and community groups.
"We want the public to get behind us, and offering a Coasters' discount is our way of demonstrating that we consider this festival to be by locals, for locals," Ms Brown said.
Four months out from the 2018 festival, iis already shaping up to be a fun, family-friendly day out and organisers are looking forward to seeing a high turnout of local residents.
Discounted tickets for locals will be available for purchase in a few weeks' time at West Coast i-Sites, with proof of address and photo identification.
Janna Sherman of the Hokitika Guardian
