Hundreds of teenagers attended the event aimed at educating young people in Dubbo about the effects of vandalism and encouraging them to take ownership of their facilities.

Organised by Dubbo city council, youth development officer Chris Bartlett said vandalism in Dubbo costs the community thousands of dollars every year.

Mr Bartlett said the idea of the event was to get through to kids that money spent on cleaning up vandalism could be spent on developing other facilities and programs throughout the city, like more skate parks and BMX tracks.

“One year council spent $250,000 on vandalism but it has been declining since that year,” Mr Bartlett said.

“These teenagers know about vandalism but they don’t know what it costs and how money can be spent elsewhere on facilities for these kids,” he said.

And it seemed the message about vandalism got through to some of those who attended yesterday.

“Vandalism is stupid and it makes Dubbo look grubby,” Sarah Langley, 17, said.

“I came today to watch the skate comp and listen to the bands. It’s great because there is not much for teenager to do in Dubbo,” she said.

“Council could do more for teenagers with more money, a graffiti wall would be a good idea to stop the graffiti on buildings,” Lisa Willis, 17, said.

“Today is awesome, it’s good to listen to music, watch the skating and its safe here,” Floss Bidell, 18, said.

“It’s a great day, there should be more of these,” Josh Lovegrove said.

Local and visiting bands entertained the crowds including Dubbo’s Battle of the Bands winners Dead Modern and previous winners The Trivs.

Dubbo’s Altitude and Red Valley from Sydney also be performing at the event.

A BMX and skate competition for 14 years and under and 15 years and over were also a highlight.