An organiser of Gisborne's Rhythm and Vines music festival says a riot could spell the end of the festival, Radio New Zealand reports.
The riot, which erupted at a campground where festival patrons had gathered on New Year's Eve, led to 63 arrests and medical treatment for 83 injured people.
Full cans of alcohol and bits of wood were thrown during the three-hour riot, some of them at the police. Tents were also set on fire and vehicles overturned.
Gisborne Hospital's emergency department said most of those hurt were treated at the site but four went to hospital - one of whom, a 19-year-old man, was admitted. He remains in a stable condition.
Toby Burrows, who is also a director of the campground company, said he had never seen anything like the violence, which police said was fuelled by alcohol.
Asked if the riot would spell the end of the festival, he had this to say:
"It's too early to tell, I guess. So many aspects of the event run really, really well, amazingly well. It's just this one part that [we] have had difficulty getting right."
Mr Burrows said the festival employed local people and brought money into the region.
He said his company was granted a special licence to sell alcohol at the campground but chose not to use it.
"Due to the feedback from the customers, we remain BYO ... Quite likely, there's a very strong contributing factor towards the behaviour. So, yeah, in future, if we can do the event again, we would be removing BYO."
He said he had met with police and there would be a festival debriefing in the coming weeks
