Big beach clean-up after ZoukOut dance festival at Sentosa

Straits Times 10 Dec 07;

In the aftermath of the record ZoukOut dance festival at Siloso Beach in Sentosa on Saturday, all that was left were plastic cups, drink bottles and food wrappers.

An army of about 80 cleaners got down and dirty at the beach at 7am yesterday after the massive 12-hour party of the year.

'We are still not done yet,' a Sentosa spokesman told The Straits Times in the afternoon. They had already trucked off 12 loads of garbage by then.

'There was more rubbish than last year,' said the Sentosa spokesman.

Party Gras
23,000 party people groove to the beat at iconic 12-hour dance festival ZoukOut
Eddino Abdul Hadi, Straits Times 10 Dec 07;

THE party was supposed to end at 8am yesterday. But when you have an action-filled dance event called ZoukOut, which drew a record 23,000 revellers this year, it is no surprise then that some folks just don't want to go home.

So it was that at least 700 party people were still thronging the venue at Siloso Beach in Sentosa at 8am.

The dance festival has built a reputation as one of the premier dance events in Asia, attracting fans from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and even as far as Dubai.

Indeed, this year's attendance at the seventh edition of the event was 3,000 more than last year's.

Diehards included language teacher Sri Ram Ramadas, 32, a Singaporean who flew in from France where he is based.

'I'm actually on paternity leave right now. My wife and baby are joining me in a couple of days but I decided to fly in earlier just so I can catch this party,' he said.

With top-ranked DJs like Armin Van Buuren and Carl Cox helming the decks and local bands like I Am David Sparkle rocking live sets, the four stages featured enough diversions to keep everyone on their toes all night long.

At the stroke of midnight, a parachutist jumped from a helicopter, wowing the crowd with a smooth landing on the beach.

This year might just be the last time ZoukOut is held in Sentosa - and possibly Singapore - as a water park is set to be built on the beach next year.

But that worry was relegated to the back of everyone's minds yesterday as revellers caught up with sleep.