ONE thing always springs to mind as soon as the weather warms up and the sun appears – festivals.

About 5,000 people flocked to Eastleigh’s Stoneham Park on Saturday for Junk Department’s Big Top event – essentially a huge circus tent in a field and 12 hours of house music until 11pm.

International DJs came from far and wide, including Hot Creations and Hot Natured’s Jamie Jones, Maya Jane Cole, Laura Jones and Flashmob. That is not to mention the afterparties in Southampton’s Voodoo Lounge and Junk which saw What I Might Do star Ben Pearce take to the decks, plus Hannah Wants, who is billed to be the next big thing on the scene.

Aside from the big tent, two other “stages” were set up by the bars – Future Garden and Concrete. Punters could pay an extra £45 to have access to the VIP area with a separate stage, and inside was decked out with Middle Eastern influences.

Oh, and of course, it included a free bar, which would have been a roaring success if it hadn’t run dry by 3pm, and again at 9pm.

The weather was most certainly on the organisers’ side, and clusters of people sat around on the grass enjoying the tunes, good company, and quite reasonably priced booze.

It was actually a bit difficult to get moving, and some more popular dance tracks would probably have better warmed up the crowd.

For the first event of its kind in this area, hats off to Junk Department for being gutsy and going for it – perhaps with some better organisation and a bigger crowd we will see the Big Top pop up again next year.