THIS weekend’s Wunta Fiesta will tick all the traditional boxes but the committee still has an eye on the future.
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The community breakfast, Friday night party, Jazz In The Gardens and Day At The Lake will return, but Wunta committee chairperson Catherine Williams said there was no reason things couldn’t be expanded or improved in the coming years.
Much of that could come through partnerships with other community groups and events, she said. This year a skate, scoot and BMX competition, an adult triathlon event and a seaside market will capitalise on Wunta’s popularity by running on the same weekend.
Ms Williams said the Wunta committee welcomed such activities.
“We hope to grow (the fiesta) — we’ve got a few other new ideas for the following years,” she said.
“A lot of it is community groups coming to us and saying ‘can we work in with you guys?’.”
The tried-and-true value of the Wunta name has made it a mainstay of the Warrnambool events calendar, even making a small profit last year.
Warrnambool City Council voted last week to again underwrite the fiesta to the tune of $10,000 should the event make a loss. But organisers are hoping it won’t come to that.
The weather, as always, will be a factor.
“We’re pretty confident it will be OK,” Ms Williams said. “I think our community can deal with a little bit of a shower.”
The fun begins tomorrow morning with the community breakfast, followed by the Friday night concert, which will be contained to the Civic Green and an adjacent stretch of Liebig Street.
The idea of returning to the old format of blocking off Liebig Street for a street party was never far away, Ms Williams said, but it was a difficult proposition.
“Public safety (is a factor), some traders love it, some don’t, alleyways have got to blocked off, it becomes more expensive in terms of security and fencing — there are quite a few different things (that make it tricky),” she said.
“But it’s something that will be discussed after this year’s Wunta. Going down that road again is not completely off the cards.”